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Title: An introduction to philology
(the science of language)
Author: Clement Wood
Editor: E. Haldeman-Julius
Release date: July 1, 2026 [eBook #78985]
Language: English
Original publication: Girard: Haldeman-Julius Company, 1924
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78985
Credits: Tim Miller, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOLOGY ***
An Introduction to Philology
LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 708
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
An Introduction to Philology
(The Science of Language)
Clement Wood
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
GIRARD, KANSAS
Copyright, 1924,
Haldeman-Julius Company.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Chapter I. The Sources of Our Words ... 5
What Is Philology ... 5
The First Recorded English Speech ... 6
The Teutonic Element ... 7
How English Became Our Speech ... 9
The French Element ... 12
The Classical Elements ... 13
Other Teutonic Elements ... 17
Varied Sources ... 18
Chapter II. The Formation of Words ... 23
The Blending of the Elements ... 23
Word Creation ... 26
Folk Etymology ... 30
Some Figures of Syntax ... 32
Figures of Nearness ... 35
Chapter III. The Behavior of Words ... 37
The Words for Colors ... 37
Generalization and Specialization ... 43
Euphemism and Hyperbole ... 45
Degeneration and Elevation ... 48
Chapter IV. The Romance of Words ... 51
Words and Archeology ... 51
The Romance of Words ... 53
Place Names ... 55
Personal Names ... 57
The American Language ... 63
CHAPTER I
THE SOURCES OF OUR WORDS
_What Is Philology?_
Philology is the study of human speech, the science of language. Not
only does it give us a chatting acquaintance with the fascinating
history of the words we use or might use in speech; but it is an
indispensable searchlight cast inward upon the cloudy nature, and
backward upon the obscure early history, of man. The term philology once
meant the study of the literature of a people (from Greek _philein_,
love, and _logos_, a word, speech, discourse). Modern usage is limiting
it to the science of language itself.
The best introduction to the science lies in a study of our own
language, the English, rapidly becoming the American. What is true of
word-building and word-journeying in English is largely true of every
civilized speech; and we will find that the story of our own tongue
brings it into contact with practically every language ever spoken. A
recent standard English dictionary contained over 500,000 words—a good
beginning for us, when the psychologists say that the vocabulary of the
superior adult contains only 13,500 words.
How many words are possible? Far more than Einstein could count. By
putting the 23 letters of an alphabet in every possible combination, we
would have 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000 words; with 24 letters we
would get 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000 words. Add to this that some
languages, like Chinese, sing or drone their sounds, with varied accents
for further varieties. Thus _dai_, in the Chinese speech of Annam,
signifies 23 different things, depending upon the accent. The sentence
Ba ba ba ba
is said to mean, if properly pronounced, each syllable differently
accented, “Three ladies gave a box on the ear to the favorite of the
prince.” This would multiply the potentialities of speech beyond the
numerical confines of this page.
Yet the hundreds of thousands, the millions, of existing words came from
a far smaller number of original word-stems or roots. Max Muller lists
121 original Sanskrit roots, which lie at the base of all Indo-European
languages. There was a Dr. Murray who imagined that he could derive our
language from nine roots, AG, BAG, CWAG, DWAG, LAG, MAG, NAG, RAG, SWAG;
an even more thorough-going Dr. Schmidt traced the whole Greek
dictionary back to the root E, and the whole Latin dictionary back to
the root HI. Let us do a little word-digging, and see where it lands us.
_The First Recorded English Speech._
The English race may be regarded historically as a blend of Celtic or
Briton, Teutonic (Anglo-Saxon), and French-Norman elements. The Celts
once covered Europe from Asia Minor to Spain, Brittany in France, and
Ireland; their place-names and a few other simple elements of language
testify mutely today to their forgotten occupancy. The Teutonic
conquerors who reached England, mainly Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, spoke
a Teutonic speech. The Normans, or Northmen, were colonists from
Scandinavia who founded Normandy in modern France, adopted the French
tongue and French manners, and from their new home set forth and
conquered England, Sicily, and several parts of Italy. The French tongue
at this time was a corrupt provincial Latin. These three elements,
Celtic, Teutonic, and French-Latin, are integral in our living English
and American speech.
The historical fate of the early Britons dispossessed of their homes by
the Anglo-Saxons is still obscure. Some undoubtedly joined their Celtic
kinsmen in Ireland and Scotland; some blended in a servile condition
with the new English race; a large number were annihilated with more or
less rapidity. We find few words, beyond place names, definitely to be
attributed to them. Among these are _bin_, _brat_, _down_ (hill),
_mattock_, _crock_. Later on the Welsh Celts contributed _flannel_,
_maggot_, _coracle_. From the Gaels of Scotland came _clan_,
_mackintosh_, _ptarmigan_, _reel_ (dance), _slogan_, _whiskey_. From the
Erse of Ireland were derived _brogue_, _bog_, _galore_, _shamrock_,
_spalpeen_, _Tory_. This list is surprisingly small.
_The Teutonic Element._
The earliest speech properly called English (from the tribe of Angles)
was brought to the islands of Great Britain in the 5th century A. D. by
Teutonic invaders from what is now northern Germany. This imported
_Englisc_, later _English_, speech was a branch of the Western Germanic
languages, which includes also High German, the literary language of
modern Germany, as well as the Frisian, the Flemish language of Belgium,
and the literary language of Holland. A degree more distant was the East
Teutonic division which included the Gothic, and the North Teutonic,
including Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Norwegian.
A few of the native English words have survived practically without
change of form or meaning: among these are _oft_, _and_, _in_, _word_,
_full_, _from_, _for_, _to_, _God_. At times there has been a slight
change in sound or meaning, as in _ofer_, over; _thaet_, that; _aer_,
ere; _aefter_, after. More often the change has been greater. Take the
word _wanton_. This combines the old privative prefix _wan_, without,
and an altered form of the past participle _togan_ of the O. E. (Old
English) verb _teon_, to train or rear. Thus wanton meant without
training, and was applied first to children; its meaning today has a far
wider application. These changes followed definite rules. The O. E. _k_
sound, represented by the letter _c_, under certain conditions regularly
became _ch_, as in choose, from _ceosan_; rich, from _rice_; much, from
_mycel_. In the same way O. E. _sc_ became regularly sh, as in should,
from _sceolde_; shame, from _sceamu_; shadow, from _sceadu_. The vowels
show changes as symmetrical: thus the long _a_ sound in _ath_, _tacn_,
_aras_, _stan_, _lar_, _swa_, _mar_, _gast_, becomes long _o_ in oath,
token, arose, stone, lore, so, more, ghost. Other vowels illustrate
changes as regular.
The meaning in most cases showed a gradual alteration. Thus _wadan_, to
advance, became wade, to advance in water; _stingan_, to pierce, became
sting, when a bee pierces; _spillan_, to destroy, became spill, to waste
liquid; _craeft_, force, became craft, cunning. The first two of these
indicate how a word of general meaning is limited to a more specific
meaning, as the language sharpens in its ability to convey ideas;
_spill_ shows a general tendency for words to become lighter and less
impressive in meaning, as time corrupts their force; _craft_ points to
the historic fact that cunning succeeded force in the dealings of men.
_Mod_, courage, weakens to mood, a state of feeling; _wif_, woman, is
limited to wife, married woman; _deor_, beast, to deer, a particular
wild beast; _hamm_, the back of the leg, is generally restricted to the
leg of a beast used for food, especially of pork, although the old
meaning is still slightly alive. _Ceorl_, freeman, was degraded to
churl, a boorish fellow, by the conquering Normans. At times the
Christian religion caused the alteration, as when it appropriated
_feond_, enemy, and made fiend, devil; _bletsian_, to consecrate by
blood (compare _blood_, _bleed_), has become bless. At times the general
degradation of ideas caused the change. Thus _cnafa_, boy (compare
German _Knabe_) grew to knave. Queer alterations have taken place, in
such pairs of words as beam and tree. _Beam_, originally meaning tree
(Ger. _Baum_, tree) means now a hewn product of the tree; _treo_, once
applied to wood cut for use (compare single-tree, whiffle-tree, etc.)
today in _tree_ applies to the source of the wood. _Bread_ and _loaf_
have similarly exchanged their meanings: the old meaning of loaf appears
disguised in _lord_ (_hlaford_, bread-warden or guardian) and _lady_
(_hlaefdige_, bread-kneader).
Thus of the original Old English, a few words persist with original form
and meaning; more have altered one or both; and a large number have
died, and are no longer in the living vocabulary. For words die as
surely as men do. Among the corpses found only in archaic poetry and old
prose are _ween_, to think; _meed_, reward; _fain_, gladly; _rathe_,
early; _lore_, learning; _bale_, harm; _dight_, decked; _don_, put on
(literally, do-on), and also _doff_, put off.
_How English Became Our Speech._
Literary English is, in reality, the East Midland dialect of the spread
Wessex dialect of the Anglo-Saxon dialect of the Teutonic tongue, that
split off from the Indo-European speech. It was not made the official
speech by Act of Parliament or popular vote; languages do not grow that
way. Skeat classifies forty-two dialects in the British Isles—nine in
Scotland, three in Ireland, and thirty in England and Wales. If the
political history or the geography of England had differed, we would
today speak a tongue based on some other dialect. First, Old English
became the basic speech in the 9th century, largely due to the literary
activities of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, in South England. The
Wessex (lit., _West Saxon_) dialect at the time was only one of many;
the political and literary prominence of Alfred made it selected as the
speech of Anglo-Saxon England.
Then the Normans swept over the isle, and ended the reign of the English
standard of speech. The English-speaking population became so reduced in
social importance, that English was a forgotten speech in the ruling
circles for almost 300 years; French and Latin became the accepted
languages. Under Edwards I and III a national feeling grew up hostile to
the continued use of French; and about 1400, at the time of Chaucer,
English, as modified by French-Norman influence, became again the
accepted speech, a position it has since held. This English again was
only a dialect, the East Midland dialect, that of London, then merely
one out of many dialects. If Alfred had come from the Scotch marches, if
the island had been so skewed around geographically that the capital
city had been on Tweed instead of Thames, we would speak a derivative of
another set of dialects. Every language, living and dead, has grown so
from some local dialect favored by circumstances geographical,
political, or literary, or a combination of these.
More than this, a fact not as yet discovered by academic philology,
climate plays a large shaping element in speech. The speech is
determined, it might also be said, by isothermic lines. Study your map
of the world for place-names, as samples of the spoken languages. The
harsh Siberian and Russian Yakutsk, Kamchatka, Okhotsk, Tobolsk,
Krasnoyarsk, Pustozersk, Petrozavodsk, Scandinavian Bukke Fjord, Tromso,
Sundsvall, Laurvik, correspond to the explosive Eskimo gutturals, and to
Umanak, Svartenhuk, Sukkertoppen, Tchaneta, Attumwapiskat, Winisk,
Waskaiowaku, names modified by southerly settlers. The guttural Teutonic
speech is similar to the American Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Chingashcook, Androscoggin, Umbagog, Squam, Memphramagog, Mattawamkeag,
Hopatcong, Keokuk, Saskatchewan, Iskut, Kamloops. The melting softness
of Italian, southern French, Spanish finds its American parallel in
Miami, Pensacola, Tuscaloosa, Tuscarora, Appalachicola, Alapha,
Susquehanna, and the like. Equatorial speech is similar broadly the
world around; the Southern hemisphere builds back from a lazy dwelling
softness to a curtness and at last a staccato brusqueness, as we
approach the southern pole. Civilized conquest of the world imports
inept place-names everywhere: but the original speech was determined by
the close-mouthed cold and the languid drawl of tropic warmth.
Thus English took her Teutonic speech from a local dialect. At first
there was no general standard; but within a century, the spread of
printed books, and the King James version of the Bible, made the form of
the language comparatively rigid. If it were entirely rigid, it would be
dead: never forget that living speech is a constantly growing thing.
_The French Element._
The English language has been said to be French badly pronounced. There
is some truth in the witticism; just as French, in turn, is mangled
provincial Latin. Even before the Norman conquest, certain French words
had crossed the channel, becoming among others _purse_, _sot_, _castle_,
_turn_, _trail_, _market_, _clerk_, _false_. In the 12th Century, in the
little written English coming down to us, these had been joined by such
words as _justice_, _war_, _peace_, _tower_, _treason_, _prison_,
_court_, _crown_, _empress_, _chaplain_, _saint_, _grace_, _mercy_,
_charity_, _faith_. Notice how these words point to the part played by
the Normans in English history, in military, court and religious
circles. The middle of the 14th Century saw thousands of words borrowed.
The legal terms especially were taken from the French: among these
_mortgage_, _forfeit_, _bail_, _jury_, _larceny_, _lease_, _perjury_,
_assets_, _embezzle_, _seize_, _culprit_, _improve_, _attach_, _quit_,
_matter of fact_. General words, with the date of their first appearance
from French sources in the Oxford dictionary, are _havoc_, 1585; _plot_,
1590; _march_, 1590; _lobby_, 1553; _massacre_, 1581; _sentinel_, 1579;
_attach_, 1600; _quatrain_, 1585; _gazette_, 1605; _dessert_, 1600.
Later additions are _campaign_, 1656; _corps_, 1711; _memoir_, 1673;
_group_, 1686; _profile_, 1656; _serenade_, 1656; _caprice_, 1667;
_beau_, 1687; _brunette_, 1713; _cravat_, 1656; _pantaloons_, 1661.
Some of these French words were from the Teutonic tribe of Franks:
_blank_, _blue_, _booty_, _butcher_, _button_, _choice_, _coat_,
_crush_, _dance_, _freight_. Some were from the French Celts: _attach_,
_attack_, _baggage_, _bar_, _basin_, _branch_, _brave_, _car_, _career_,
_carpenter_, _carry_. A large number were from the Latin through the
French. _Cavalry_ and _chivalry_ come from the vulgar Latin _caballus_,
a horse, rather than the classical Latin _equus_ (whence _equine_,
_equestrian_); _cat_, from Vulg. Lat. _cattus_, not classical _felis_
(whence _feline_). We have words coming straight from the Latin, and
from the Latin through the French, often with different meanings: this
gave such pairs as _monastery_, _minster_; _regal_, _royal_;
_presbyter_, _priest_; _security_, _surety_; _fidelity_, _faith_;
_gentile_, _gentle_, _genteel_, _jaunty_; _annoy_, _ennui_; _feast_,
_fete_; _corpse_, _corps_; _capital_, _chief_, _chef_. French is a lazy
slurring tongue: it swallows and loses internal consonants, and adds
often an initial vowel for euphony, or easier pronunciation. Thus
_capital_, from the Latin, came through the French as _chattel_ and
_cattle_; _study_ (Lat. _studia_) became _etude_; _magistrate_ became
_master_ and _mister_; _senior_ became _sir_; _adjutant_, _aid_;
_balsam_, _balm_; _collocate_, _couch_; _deacon_, _dean_; _deposit_,
_depot_; _fragile_, _frail_; _juniper_, _gin_; _radius_, _ray_;
_revindicate_, _revenge_; _separate_, _sever_. The cause of this French
slurring of pronunciation is largely geographic; compare American
colloquial speech of immigrant Italians, _police-a_ for _police_,
_give-a me da mon’_, etc.
_The Classical Elements: Latin and Greek._
Not only did Latin come through the French; but the Renaissance, or
revival of classical learning, of the Middle Ages, opened Latin and
Greek to the language, and enriched our vocabulary with thousands of
long-winded polysyllables—a process by no means ended yet. This
borrowing, in non-classical cases as well, is true of all living
European languages; but English is especially a blended tongue. Long
before classical history began, the northern tribes had come into
contact with Mediterranean civilization; had gained from it many
products of art and industry; and had often taken at the same time the
southern words to indicate these objects.
The evidence of archeology to show this southern interpenetration of the
north is amply supported by what philology has discovered. Thus wine
came from the South; the Lat. _vinum_ survives in Eng. _wine_, Germ.
_wein_, Danish, _vin_; the Lat. _caupones_, wine-dealers, gave a number
of Teutonic words dealing with commerce, such as O. E. _ceapian_ (from
which Eng. _cheap_ and _chapman_, _merchant_), and Ger. _kaufen_, to
buy; _Kaufmann_, _merchant_. _Mint_, _pound_ and _inch_ came in at this
period from Lat. _moneta_, _pondere_ (to weigh), and _uncia_. _Dish_,
_scuttle_, _kettle_, _mortar_ were names of receptacles borrowed at this
early period from the Latin; the same language also yielded _cook_,
_kitchen_, _mill_, _butter_ (Lat. _butyrum_), _cheese_ (_caseus_),
_turnip_ (turn-_napus_), _pea_, _cabbage_, _plum_ (_pruna_, Greek
_prounon_, earlier _proumnon_, a plum tree; Eng. _prune_ from same
source), peach (_persicum_, Gr. _persicon_, from earlier _malon
persicon_, the peach, literally, Persian apple. Similarly _quince_ came
from the phrase meaning Cydonian apple; the orange was Medic apple; the
apricot Armenian apple. The Greeks in these cases named specific fruits
by adding a place-name to the general word for apple, broadened to mean
fruit. Compare French _pomme de terre_, apple of the earth, for potato.)
The Romans in Britain left their mark in such words as _street_ (Lat.
_strata_), _port_ (_porta_), Win-_chester_, Wor-_cester_, Don-_caster_
(_castra_, camp.) From early Roman Christianity came such words as
_abbot_, _apostle_, _bishop_ _chalice_, _chapter_, _choir_, _creed_,
_deacon_, _hymn_, _monk_, _pope_, _priest_, _saint_, _hymn_; many of
these in their turn derived by the Romans from the Greeks. _School_
comes from Lat. _scola_, pointing to Roman control of education. A few
typical words, showing their forms in modern and Old English, and in
Latin, are:
_Modern _Old _Latin_
English_ English_
candle candel candela
chalk cealc calcem
cedar ceder cedrus
dragon draca draco
oil ele oleum
fever fefer febris
fork forca furca
giant gigant gigantem
gem gimm gemma
lobster lopestra locusta
mountain munt montem
poppy popig papaver
radish raedic radicem
sage salfige salvia
Many of these words re-entered English, long afterward, directly from
the Latin; so that we have _chalk_ and _calcium_; _oil_ and
_Oleomargarine_; _fever_, _febrile_; _giant_, _gigantic_; _lobster_,
_locust_; _sage_, _salvia_, each pair with the same root. At times the
Old English survived instead of the Latin: thus _gospel_ comes from O.
E. _godspell_, not Lat. _evangelium_; _dawn_ from O. E. _daegroed_, not
Lat. _aurora_. Of course, _evangelical_ and _aurora_ also entered the
language, with slightly altered meanings.
In the century after the Norman conquest, words straight from the Latin,
such as _generation_, _persecution_, _sedition_, _tradition_, made their
appearance. These words, and the later additions, _fraction_,
_duration_, _position_, which appear in Chaucer, may have been taken
straight from the Latin, or come through Norman-French. The Renaissance
brought in an immense number of words, among which (with year of first
appearance in the Oxford dictionary) are _abbreviate_ (1530); _abduct_
(1834); _abjure_ (1501); _abnormal_ (1836); _abolition_ (1529); _absorb_
(1490); _absurd_ (1557); _abuse_ (1538), etc. Many such words failed to
grow in the new speech: _adminiculation_, _allect_, _annect_,
_applicate_, _assentation_, all used in 16th Century English, seem now
pedantic monstrosities. Old English words fell by the wayside as surely:
_moond_ for lunatic, _outpeopling_ for captivity, _hunderer_ for
centurion, _frosent_ for apostle, _biwordes_ for parables, _crossed_ for
crucified, _freschman_ for proselyte, all appearing in Sir John Cheke’s
translation of the New Testament, have died; although _byword_,
_crossed_, and _freshman_ took root with other meanings.
Law is full of Latin terms like _alibi_, _subpoena_, _alias_, _proviso_,
and _affidavit_. Similarly came _item_, _prospectus_, _impetus_,
_deficit_, _terminus_, _referendum_. The following table gives a list of
the percentage of words from the Latin appearing in certain English
writings:
Gibbon 30%
Samuel Johnson 28%
Tennyson 12%
Shakespeare 10%
King James 6%
Bible
This refers to all the words used, not taking account of repetitions. If
allowance is made for the frequent use of the simplest words, the Latin
and other foreign elements swell larger. To sum the matter up another
way, about one word out of every four in the complete Latin vocabulary
found its way into English. Of course, one Latin word at times gave
birth to scores of English words. Words are by no means monogamous; some
are very Solomons.
Greek has paid its toll since the Renaissance. Many early Latin
importations were derived by the Romans from the Greek speech—_abbot_,
_monk_, _priest_, _clerk_, _school_, are of this type. The Greek gave
directly such words as _poetry_, _drama_, _comedy_, _tragedy_,
_theater_, _scene_, _melodrama_, _episode_, _ode_, _theme_, _thesis_,
_topic_, _climax_, _emphasis_, _phrase_, _paragraph_, _parenthesis_,
_period_, _colon_, _idiom_, _dialogue_, _apology_, _comma_, _hyphen_,
etc. In the science of botany alone Greek contributed _botany_,
_protoplasm_, _stigma_, _petal_, _spore_, _parasite_, etc.; in
athletics, _gymnastics_, _athlete_, _acrobat_, _trophy_, _stadium_; in
physiology and medicine, words almost countless. The nomenclature of
science today is taken partly from Latin and largely from Greek sources.
It must never be forgotten that historically the Mediterranean peoples
were overrun many times by the northern Teutonic barbarians, not only in
the breakup of their rule, but long before classical history commenced.
The classical conquest of the world was largely led by men in whose
veins the blood of forgotten Teutonic conquerors flowed.
_Other Teutonic Elements._
The Danish Conquest, which preceded the Norman victory, added all
place-names in England ending in _-by_, _-thorp_, _-throp_, _-beck_,
_-dale_, _-thwaite_, etc. It is not always easy to tell whether a word
is Old English or of Scandinavian borrowing: the two speeches were often
alike. One test lies in the fact that O. E. _sk_ changed regularly to
_sh_, and _k_ before _e_ and _i_ altered to _ch_. Thus Teutonic words
with these sounds unchanged, such as _skill_, _skin_, _scare_, _sky_,
_keg_, _kettle_, _kirk_, are to be assigned to Scandinavian origin. The
same roots appear from Old English in such words as _shin_ and _church_.
Couplets from the two sources are _skirt_, _shirt_; _shriek_, _screech_.
_Eggs_, _get_, _awe_, _give_, _husband_, _fellow_, _knife_, _wing_,
_window_, _root_, _law_, _anger_, _gate_, _meek_, _low_, _odd_, _wrong_,
_ill_, _ugly_, _rotten_, _die_, _cast_, _hit_, _take_, _call_, _want_,
_scare_, _they_, _their_, _them_, are a few Scandinavian contributions
indicating the everyday character of the words.
The Dutch gave us many sea-faring terms, such as _boom_, _cruise_,
_sloop_, _yacht_, _ahoy_, _aloof_, _avast_, _belay_, _caboose_, _hoist_,
_hold_ (of a ship), _reef_, _rover_, _skipper_, _smack_, _strand_. From
them we also received _deck_, _frolic_, _fumble_, _glib_, _hogshead_,
_jeer_, _mop_, _rant_, _ravel_, _ruffle_, _snap_, _snuff_, _switch_,
_toy_, _trick_, _uproar_, _wagon_, _furlough_, _cashier_, _forlorn_,
_hope_, _plunder_, _spool_, _stripe_, _scour_. The Dutch of South Africa
have given _trek_, _veldt_, _spoor_; they brought in from the Arabic
_monsoon_, from the Malayan _bamboo_ and _cockatoo_. In the United
States the Dutch settlement gave _cold-slaw_, _boss_, _cookie_,
_cruller_, _dope_, _hook_, _pit_ (of a cherry), _sleigh_, _spook_,
_stoop_ (porch), and _waffle_.
The High German has given less; but _umlaut_, _kindergarten_,
_meerschaum_, _poodle_, _waltz_, _carouse_, _cobalt_, _gneiss_,
_quarts_, _shale_, _zinc_, point to their influence.
_Varied Sources._
Italy, with a Latin origin for its speech, has given _attitude_,
_fiasco_, _influenza_, _isolate_, _motto_, _stanza_, _umbrella_, in the
16th century; and, later, _macaroni_, _spaghetti_, _wop_, _finale_,
_intermezzo_, _oboe_, _opera_, _piano_, _bust_, _fresco_, _cameo_,
_colonnade_, _cornice_, _corridor_, _grotto_, _motto_, _studio_, point
to Italian influence in music, architecture, and elsewhere. Italian
words coming to us through the French include _alarm_, _alert_,
_arcade_, _apartment_, _artisan_, _bulletin_, _cadence_, _caress_,
_contrast_.
The Spanish element entered first in the 16th century, in such words as
_armada_, _comrade_, _desperado_, _dispatch_, _negro_, _renegade_. Later
contributions include _brocade_, _anchovy_ (from the early Basque
speech), _booby_, _capsize_, _caste_, _cigar_, _cork_, _embargo_,
_mosquito_, _quadroon_, _sherry_, _tornado_, _vanilla_. Spain’s conquest
of the New World made them the agents for the entrance of _cocoa_,
_chocolate_, _tobacco_, _maize_, _hammock_, _barbacue_, and _potato_,
from various early American sources. _Florida_, _alligator_, _dollar_,
_sierra_, _Colorado_, _adobe_, _sombrero_, _canyon_, _lariat_, _corral_,
_calaboose_, _lasso_, _ranch_, _locoed_, _broncho_, _cinch_, _bunco_,
are Spanish words coming to us through Spanish occupation of America.
Portuguese gave less; its contributions include _cobra_, _palaver_,
_madeira_, _port_ (wine), _molasses_, _tank_, _fetish_.
Russia, especially in its great prominence in the last few years, has
made us familiar with _vodka_, _duma_, _progrom_, _czar_, _mujik_,
_bolsheviki_, _intelligentsia_, _soviet_. In earlier times we had
received from the Balto-Slavic group _siskin_, _mammoth_, _mazurka_,
_polka_, _howitzer_, _slave_, _ruble_, _samovar_, _crash_ (linen) and
_knout_. The Hungarian language, quite outside the Indo-European group,
gave _vampire_ and _coach_.
The Semitic Hebrew, potent in the world’s religion, furnished _amen_,
_bedlam_, _cherub_, _jubilee_, _Satan_, _Jehovah_, _Messiah_, _rabbi_,
_sabbath_, _maudlin_; and also _camel_, _cider_, _ebony_, _elephant_,
_cinnamon_, _sapphire_, _sodomy_, _leviathan_. The Semitic Arabic
furnished even more. Through the Greek they gave _elixir_, _talisman_,
_alchemy_, _carat_; more directly, _albatross_, _alkili_, _attar_,
_fakir_, _harem_, _mohair_, _sheik_, _sherbet_, _shrub_, _syrup_,
_sofa_; and in various roundabout ways _naphtha_, _jasper_, _alcohol_,
_zero_, _magazine_, _crimson_, _carmine_, _amber_, _cipher_, _cotton_,
_garble_, _giraffe_, _gazelle_, _sumach_, _sash_ (girdle), _talc_,
_lime_ (fruit), _mummy_, _zenith_, _admiral_, _sugar_, _assassin_,
_lute_, _mate_ (in chess), _mattress_, _saffron_, _sultan_. Many
doublets came from this source: the Arabic word for drink gave
_sherbet_, _shrub_ and _syrup_; Arabic _sifr_, cipher, through Span. and
Fr. gave _cipher_; through Low Lat. and Ital., _zero_. Most of the
astronomical names of the constellations are Latin: _Pisces_, _Ursus
Major_, _Taurus_, _Lyra_, _Libra_, _Virgo_, etc.; but the Arabic names
of individual stars, such as _Rigel_, _Betelguese_, _Altair_, _Algol_,
_Aldebaran_, are generally used.
From the Persian, by routes largely indirect, have come _azure_,
_pajamas_, _toddy_, _magic_, _caravan_, _tiger_, _rice_, _scimitar_,
_taffeta_, _julep_, _rook_ (in chess), _check_, _checkers_, _chess_,
_lemon_, _lilac_, _jasmine_, _spinach_, _tulip_ and _scarlet_. _Scarlet_
has had a unique journey, indicating what irresponsible vagrants words
may be. It is found in Eng., Dan., Germ., Swed., Icel., Hung., Old
Bulg., Serv., all from the late Gr. _skarlaton_; this Gr. term came from
the Turkish _iskerat_; the Turkish word from the Arabic _saqarlat_, a
variant of _saqallat_, from the Persian _saqalat_, meaning scarlet
cloth. We are not through yet: the Persian word comes from Lat.
_sigillatus_, figured or painted, especially as applied to cloth. This
was from Lat. _signum_, a mark or sign, whose root meaning is uncertain.
To show how many words may be born of one word-stem, we have from this
root, among many others, _sign_, _signature_, _signal_, _signet_,
_signify_, _assign_, _consign_, _design_, _countersign_, _ensign_,
_resign_, _insignia_, _sigil_, _sigillate_, _seal_, _scarlet_—the
dictionary contains 49 words from this stem beginning with _sig-_ alone.
Thus far has the Persian step-word _scarlet_ taken us.
From the Turkish, a race dependent upon others for culture, there are
few words, including _horde_, _turkey_, _turquoise_, _uhlan_. India, the
original home of the Indo-European speech to which Anglo-Saxon and
Teutonic belong, is responsible for many words. Early words representing
Oriental contributions to European civilization are _pepper_, _camphor_,
_indigo_, _china_ (ware), _orange_, _candy_, _calico_, _chintz_,
_sandal_, _jungle_, _loot_, _punch_ (beverage). Later borrowings are:
_juggernaut_, _pundit_, _rajah_, _sepoy_, _bandanna_, _thug_,
_bungalow_, _shampoo_, _pariah_, _cot_ (bed), _polo_.
Relatively few words have come from China and Japan. _Silk_ may be of
Chinese origin; _typhoon_, _tea_, _serge_, _mandarin_, certainly are.
From Japan emanate _kimono_, _soy_ (bean), and few others. The South
Seas have furnished more, including _bamboo_, _cheroot_, _teak_,
_caddy_, _gong_, _guttapercha_, _junk_, _orang-outang_, _gingham_,
_bantam_, _taboo_, _tattoo_, _atoll_, _ukelele_. Uncivilized Africa’s
different races have given _canary_, _chimpanzee_, _voodoo_, _hoodoo_,
_tango_, _guinea_, _gorilla_, _yam_, _zebra_. Australia is to be
credited with _boomerang_ and _kangaroo_.
The native speech of the pre-European Americans has given the words
listed under the Spanish influence, and also _mahogany_, _canoe_,
_guava_, _cannibal_, _hurricane_, _guano_, _tapioca_, _buccaneer_,
_pampas_, _alpaca_, _condor_, _tapir_, _banana_, _jaguar_, _coyote_,
also through the Spaniards. North American Indians have added to this a
large number of place-names, and also _caucus_, _pow-wow_, _hickory_,
_hominy_, _moccasin_, _moose_, _opossum_, _raccoon_, _skunk_, _squaw_,
_toboggan_, _wigwam_, _tomahawk_. The Philippines gave the useful word
_hike_. The expressive _husky_ is said to be a corruption of _Eskimo_,
first applied as a name for a dog.
With this we close the rapid survey of contributions to our language
from every race of men. Each other language has grown by similar
accretions; and the process is a continuing one. The world war added
many words to the vocabulary; the uneasy peace now following is
furnishing at least its daily dozen.
CHAPTER II
THE FORMATION OF WORDS
_The Blending of the Elements._
The haphazard and nondescript way in which all modern civilized
languages grow produces some curious philological phenomena. We have
spoken of many of the doublets, especially the French-Latin ones, the
Old English-Scandinavian ones, and two Persian examples. Again, from the
Persian word for turban, _dulband_, have come both _turban_ and _tulip_,
the flower named for its shape. _Deck_ and _thatch_ are the same
Teutonic root coming through O. E. and Dutch respectively. The Persian
_shah_, ruler, has come recently in this form, and in earlier days in
the verb _check_. The Greek _pandoura_, through Italian and French,
gives _mandolin_; through Italian, with Negro modifications, _banjo_.
Fighting against this tendency is a simplification, by which different
foreign words assume the same form in English. Thus five distinct Latin
words have entered English with the one form _bay_, and mean (1) the
color of a horse (Lat. _badius_); (2) a kind of laurel (Lat. _baca_, a
berry); (3) an inlet of the sea (Lat. _baia_); (4) a form of window
(Lat. _badere_); (5) a bark of a dog (Lat. _baubari_). _Gin_, a drink,
is from Lat. _juniperus_, whence also _juniper_; in cotton _gin_, it is
from Lat. _ingenium_. The differing meanings of _curry_, _yet_, _hue_,
_lay_, _dam_, _main_, _swallow_, and many others, come from different
word-roots.
Words from classical sources are selected for various reasons. Some are
to render scientific nomenclature more specific; some, to soften tabooed
subjects (compare _viscera_, _guts_; _perspire_, _sweat_; _abdomen_,
_belly_). Others survive through the surge and thunder of their
word-music: the lines
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red
indicate the superiority in mere verbal tone of the classic over the
native idiom. There is less excuse for the attempt to substitute
classical _vertigo_ for _dizziness_, _coryza_ for _cold_, or _urticaria_
for _hives_. This appears at its worst in the Bostonian reply, to “Have
you eaten enough?” “Gastronomic satiety admonishes me that I have
arrived at a state of deglutition consistent with dietetic satiety.” In
American, this would be, “I have eaten enough.”
The place of native words in the language is a secure one. One-fourth of
the whole task of expression in English is shouldered by nine native
words:
and
be
have
it
of
the
to
will
you
These nine with thirty-four other native words form half of the words
actually used in English speech:
about
all
as
at
but
can
come
day
dear
for
get
go
hear
her
if
in
me
much
not
on
one
say
she
so
that
these
they
this
though
time
we
with
write
your
Furthermore, in pairs of synonyms, one native, one classical in origin,
the greater directness in the native words is striking. Compare _fire_,
_conflagration_; _bloody_, _sanguinary_; _stiff_, _rigid_; _fat_,
_corpulent_; _sweat_, _perspire_. On one occasion Samuel Johnson, the
great Latinist, lapsed into native English: “It has not wit enough to
keep it sweet.” After a moment’s reflection, he weakened this with the
classical gloss, “It has not vitality enough to preserve it from
putrefaction.” There are imported words, however, which enter into the
very warp and woof of the language: for instance, _easy_, _large_,
_sure_, _bet_, _boot_, _quiet_, _brace_, _peace_, _city_, _soldier_,
_hour_, _move_, _turn_, _table_, _place_, _very_, _save_, _single_,
_clear_, _plain_. In some cases the foreign word has supplanted the
native in general use; compare _beautiful_, _fair_; _prosperity_,
_speed_; _valley_, _dale_; _divide_, _cleave_; _forest_, _wold_; _fort_,
_fastness_; _tremble_, _quake_; _joyous_, _blithe_; _mercury_,
_quicksilver_; _mirror_, _looking-glass_.
A class at Columbia was recently asked to select the 50 words of most
basic importance in the expression of human life. From two lists
prepared 78 words were finally selected; of these, 39 were French, and
35 Anglo-Saxon. A public-speaking club selected the 21 most beautiful
words in English: of these 3 were Anglo-Saxon, 1 Scandinavian, 3 Latin,
and 14 French.
Many modern words are blended of two or more languages. Classic prefixes
are suffixes with native roots are found in _co-worker_, _pro-German_,
_re-birth_, _ante-room_, _superman_, _breakage_, _laughable_,
_righteous_, _wreckage_. Native prefixes and suffixes are blended with
classic roots to form _unruly_, _besiege_, _bashful_, _misplace_,
_outcry_, _overcharge_, _outline_, _by-product_, _finest_, _forceful_,
_napkin_, _beautiful_, _painting_, _statecraft_, _uncivil_, _overturn_,
_understudy_, _relentless_. Hybrids formed of native and classic roots
are found in _window-pane_, _table-cloth_, _faint-hearted_,
_simple-minded_, _Saturday_, _birthplace_, _candlestick_, _staircase_,
_grandstand_, _cocktail_, _fireplace_, _outrage_.
One remarkable word has recently been unearthed, a hybrid made of
elements from five different languages. The word is _remacadamizing_,
which may be analyzed into _re_ (Latin), _mac_ (Celtic), _adam_
(Hebrew), _ize_ (Greek) and _ing_ (native English.) It is a good
vigorous word too, despite its mottled ancestry.
_Word Creation._
One of the forms of words known to all languages staggers under the
Greek term onomatopoetic, recently rechristened echoic—a word expressing
a sound in Nature. The _hiss_ of steam, the _clang_ of a bell, the
_crash_ of falling timbers,—these words are echoic. Words like _papa_,
_mama_, _baby_, probably of this type, are found in practically all
languages. _Bomb_, _murmur_, _cuckoo_, go back through French to Latin,
and to an antiquity hard to determine. Among echoic words originating
independently in English are: _buzz_, _fizz_, _purr_, _quack_, _hiss_,
_boom_, _gibber_, _jabber_, _giggle_, _titter_, _whirr_, _ding-dong_,
_hee-haw_, _hoot_, _chatter_. The theory that this is responsible for
all words has long been abandoned; yet there is a uniform overtone in a
group of words like _bosh_, _slosh_, _squash_, _plush_, _hush_, _mush_,
_flush_, _blush_; a related quality in _crash_, _splash_, _smash_,
_hash_, _trash_, _clash_, _dash_, _rash_. Certain verbal sounds get
associated with certain emotions; and out of the casual word creations,
commencing as slang, come such words as the following list of recent
additions to the first volume of the Oxford dictionary, all from the
_b’s_: _bamboozle_, _bang_, _bilk_, _blab_, _blabber_, _blare_, _blear_,
_blight_, _blob_, _blizzard_, _blot_, _blotch_, _blubber_, _bluff_,
_blunder_, _blunt_, _blur_, _blurt_, _bluster_, _bogus_, _boom_, _bore_,
_bosh_, _bother_, _brash_, _brunt_, _bub_, _bump_, _bum_, _bunch_,
_bungle_, _burr_, _bustle_, _buzz_. Nonsense verse contributes here; but
artificial word additions, such as Gelett Burgess’ _fuddy_ for untidy,
_bimped_ for jilted, _snosh_ for vain talk, _cofle_ for “to try to find
out a person’s name without asking,” may have a harder time horning into
the language. The verb _to horn in_, a fine figurative phrase from the
cattle country, is still ranked as slang; but it is beginning to receive
academic approval.
Sometimes such word-formations are meant humorously, sometimes
seriously. Thus from chimpanzee came _humanzee_, to describe one
especial animal. _Travelogue_, from travel and dialogue, has more
serious intention. Light recent creations are _swellegant_,
_yellocution_, _versiflage_, _alcoholiday_, _flumonia_. The origin of
these is obvious; but many accepted words in the language have roots as
yet undiscovered, and may have come similarly. _Dog_ came in before the
Conquest, without known ancestry; the Teutonic name appears in _hound_,
while the Latin _canis_ furnishes _canine_. _Girl_, _boy_, _lad_,
_lass_, _big_, _bad_, _pig_, _cut_, entered before Chaucer; _bet_,
_jump_, _dodge_, before 1600; _pun_, in the 17th century; _fun_, _bore_,
_slang_, _fudge_, in the 18th; _rollicking_, _loaf_ (verb) in the 19th;
the modern _stunt_ and _hooch_ are similar.
Another source of increase to the speech is the doublets, already
mentioned. Other examples are _of_, _off_; _through_, _thorough_;
_porridge_, _pottage_; _shade_, _shed_, _shadow_; _strap_, _strop_;
_courtesy_, _curtsey_; _fantasy_, _fancy_; _corpse_, _corps_; _posy_,
_poesy_.
The most prolific source has been the combination of two or more
elements into one word. Almost back to the forgotten beginnings of our
speech go such words as _barn_ (O. E. _bere-aern_, barley-place); _lord_
(_hlaf-weard_, bread-keeper); _gossip_ (_god-sibbe_, good kinsman);
_hussy_ (_house-wife_); _gospel_ (_god-spell_, good narrative); _world_
(_wer-eld_, man age); _sheriff_ (_scir-gerefa_, shire reeve); _daisy_
(_daeges-eage_, day’s eye). The Elizabethan age was rich in compounds,
such as _freshman_, _huntsman_, _bookseller_, _keyhole_, _bookworm_,
_potluck_, and _horseplay_. Shakespeare offered _honey-heave_,
_pity-pleading_, _wind-changing_, _carry-tale_, and others, which have
not found permanent lodgings in the language. Others which have endured
are _rawboned_, _crestfallen_, _untutored_, _high-born_, _red-hot_,
_blood-stained_, _mouth-filling_, _heart-ache_, _hairbreadth_, _break
neck_, _even-handed_, _moss-grown_. Among those which did not survive
are _hotspur_, _aleknight_, _maltworm_, _hangby_, _crackhemp_,
_findfault_ (but compare _fault-finder_), _makepiece_, _tearsheet_,
_ticklebrain_, _tosspot_, _wantwit_. A great stock of terms of contempt
have survived, such as _killjoy_, _scarecrow_, _pickpocket_,
_daredevil_, _spitfire_, _hangdog_, _lickspittle_, _makeshift_,
_skinflint_, _slipshod_, _turncoat_, _telltale_. Modern equivalents are
_speak-easy_, _bootlegger_, and juvenile _tattletale_ and _copycat_.
_Smut-hound_, _dope-fiend_, and other modern mixtures have not yet
acquired lasting dignity.
The English settlers in America used this method in naming many natural
objects: compare _bullfrog_, _canvas-back_, _lightning-bug_, _mud-hen_,
_cat-bird_, _razor-back_, _garter-snake_, _groundhog_, _live-oak_,
_turkey-gobbler_, _pokeweed_, _copperhead_, _eelgrass_, _reedbird_,
_eggplant_, _peanut_, _bluegrass_, _Junebug_. Recent American blends
include _pussyfoot_, _skyscraper_, _bell-hop_, _hayseed_,
_shin-plaster_, _bucket-shop_, _lounge-lizard_, _rum-hound_, and many
other _-lizard_ and _-hound_ blends.
Prefixes and suffixes are taken from all speeches. Native prefixes
include _mis-_, _un-_, _after-_, _be-_, _for-_, _man-_; suffixes,
_-ness_, _-less_, _-ly_, _-ish_, _-er_, _-y_, _-head_, _-hood_. With
these may be used the Latin _pro-_, _post-_, _inter-_, _ante-_, _pre-_,
_co-_, _sub-_, _super-_, _-ation_, _-ative_; French _dis-_, _en-_,
_-age_, _-al_, _-ment_, _-able_, _-ous_, _-ose_, _-ese_, _-gy_, _-ate_,
_-ard_, _-esque_, _-ade_, many of these borrowed by the French; Greek
_a-_ (without), _hyper-_, _nec-_, _pseudo-_, _arche-_, _-ize_, _-ist_,
_-ism_, _-ite_, _-itis_; Scandinavian _-ling_, and others listed;
Flemish _-kin_. Hundreds of compounds made from these have failed to
survive; this is especially true of those made with native prefixes and
suffixes. _Wanton_ is the only word preserving the prefix _wan-_, once
common in such combinations as _wanthrift_, extravagance; _wanhap_,
misfortune; _wanlust_, languor; _wanwit_, folly; _wantrust_, lack of
confidence; _wantruth_, falsehood; _wanchance_, ill-luck. _Blameful_,
_crimeful_, _dareful_, _deathful_, _ruthful_, all from Shakespeare, are
only a few of the _-ful_ compounds that have died; _aidless_,
_bragless_, _heirless_, _effectless_, also from Shakespeare, are four
out of many more that have gone. _Gainsay_ alone lives out of
_gainscope_, _gainstand_, _gainstrive_, etc.; _laughing-stock_ is the
one relict of _gazing-stock_, _jesting-stock_, _mocking-stock_, etc.
Five only of the _-worthy_ adjectives (_blameworthy_, etc.) remain. Most
of the _-th_ nouns are gone: while keeping _warmth_, _health_, _growth_,
_wealth_, and _height_ (often pronounced _heighth_ still) we have
surrendered _lowth_, _greenth_, _coolth_, _illth_, _spilth_, etc. More
of the classic prefixes and suffixes have taken root; there are five
hundred words listed in the Oxford dictionary beginning with the Greek
_anti-_. Only two _tele-_ words were in Samuel Johnson’s dictionary;
there are 130 in the present Oxford one. The Century Dictionary
supplement contains 168 words beginning with _auto-_. The process is a
living one: thus _book-fiend_, _dope-fiend_, _chess-fiend_,
_bomb-proof_, _fool-proof_, _near-beer_, _near-great_, _near-champion_,
are all recent inventions.
The shortening process gave, long ago, such words as _van_ (from
vanguard), _van_ (caravan), _patter_ (pater noster), _canter_
(Canterbury gallop), _wig_ (periwig), _cheat_ (escheat), _wag_
(waghalter), _spend_ (dispend), _rum_ (rumbullion), _cab_ (cabriolet),
_still_ (distillery); the dandified speech of Queen Anne’s day gave
_mob_ (mobile vulgus), _blues_ (blue devils), etc. From other sources
came recently _chum_ (chamber fellow), _photo_ (photograph), _cycle_ and
_bike_ (bicycle), _gas_ (gasoline), _pants_ (pantaloons), and countless
others.
_Folk-Etymology._
The World War saw folk etymology at work among us, in fascinating ways.
Thus _Mouquet Farm_ was promptly re-christened _Moo Cow Farm_. The
conversion of the warship _Bellerophon_ into _Bully Ruffian_ has long
afforded amusement; similar naval perversions are _Ariadne_ into _Harry
Annie_, _Hecate_ into _He Cat_. Mistaken folk analogies are responsible
for the conversion of the singular _pease_ (compare _peascod_) into a
_pea_, and for _edit_, _rove_, _hawk_ (verb), _beg_, _asset_, _vamp_,
_burgle_, _launder_ (verb), _jell_, _henpeck_, and _sunburn_ (both
verbs).
Often it is an attempt to convert unfamiliar words into familiar, by
altering the original spelling. Thus Milton’s _sovran_, by the influence
of _reign_, became _sovereign_; _cold-slaw_ came, not from _cold_, but
from Dutch _kool_, cabbage. _Blunderbuss_, also of Dutch origin, came
from _donderbuss_; _isinglass_, influenced by English _glass_, goes back
to Dutch _huysenblas_, sturgeon-bladder. _Country-dance_ was once
_contre-dance_ (from _contre_, opposite). _Pick-ax_ came, not from _ax_,
but from Fr. _piquois_. Barberry began as Lat. _berberis_, not kin to
_berry_; _gilly-flower_ from Fr. _girofle_, ultimately to Gr.
_karuophullon_, nutleaf. Three words have been pulled toward the flower
_rose_: _primrose_ (Fr. _primerole_, Lat. _primula de ver_, first flower
of spring); _tuberose_ (Lat. _tuberosa_, tuberous); _rosemary_, (Lat.
_ros marinus_, sea-dew). Similarly _mushroom_ has nothing to do with
_room_, but comes from O. Fr. _mouscheron_, from _mousse_, moss.
Animal names show the same trait. _Mongoose_ is from native _mangus_,
not kin to goose; _muskrat_ is from Algonquin _muskwessu_. _Titmouse_
has no more relation to _mouse_, but its second syllable derives from M.
E. _mose_, O. E. _mase_, a name for several kinds of birds. _Cray-fish_
and _crawfish_ came into English as _crevice_ from the same word in O.
Fr.; the first syllable is kin to _crab_, the second has no original
connection with _fish_. Often popular misreading adds an unnecessary
second element to the word. The O. E. _bran_ and Norse _hreinn_,
reindeer, by analogy to the _rein_ of a harness became reindeer, or
literally deer-deer. The _grey_ in _greyhound_ is the name for a dog; by
analogy to the color, we have the present form, which is literally
dog-dog. _Cot_, from Hindustani _knat_, bedstead, is joined often into
_cot-bed_, literally bed-bed. _Cellar_ in _saltcellar_ meant
salt-receptacle (Lat. _salarius_, salt-receptacle; the modern word is
literally salt-salt-receptacle). _Turtle_, in _turtle-dove_, meant dove;
our compound is literally dove-dove. O. E. _samblind_, half-blind (from
Lat. _semi-_, half) gave rise to _sand-blind_, and in Shakespeare to the
facetious _stoneblind_ and _high-gravel-blind_. _Corporal_ gets its
spelling from a popular error; properly from Lat. _caporalis_, from
_caput_, head, it was connected with _corps_, from Lat. _corpus_, and so
grew to its present form.
At times it has been the mistaken zeal of scholars that has led the word
astray. Thus _island_ (M. E. _iland_, water-land) was spelled island in
the attempt to connect it with _isle_, from Lat. _insula_, island;
_rhyme_ (E. _rime_) was spelled to connect it with _rhythm_. The ending
_-gue_, proper in French terms like _vague_, _vogue_, _catalogue_, was
applied erroneously to _tongue_ and _rogue_ (M. E. _tonge_ and 16th
Cent. _roge_); although it has not survived in _dogue_ and _kingue_. The
initial _wh-_ in _who_ and _whom_ is responsible for _whole_ (O. E.
_hal_) and _whore_ (M. E. _hore_). Thus _donkey_ is modelled from the
color _dun_ after _monkey_, _parsnip_ after _turnip_, etc.
_Some Figures of Syntax._
At times modern word usage comes from the effect of some highly
imaginative process, poetic in its origin. Thus the meaning of a word is
often shifted subtly. The Lat. _horridus_ means rough, bristly, shaggy;
_hispidus_ was almost a synonym. The English _horrid_ and _hideous_ have
shifted to mean that which has the psychological effect of making a
person rough and bristly, causing what is called goose-flesh, or making
the hair stand on end. _Superb_, from Lat. _superbus_, proud (compare
Tarquinius _Superbus_) means that worthy of pride. The adjectives in
_sweet expression_ and _grim determination_ have shifted from the active
subject to the effect on the passive object. A _deep_ thinker, a _solid_
reasoner, a _fluent_ speaker have brought the result of the activity
back as a modifier of the activity; meaning literally one who thinks
deep things, one who reasons solid things, one who speaks flowing
speech.
Man thought first in concrete things: when it became necessary to coin
words for vaguer abstractions, he used some familiar concrete term. Thus
most words expressing divisions of time have roots expressing physical
facts at the bottom: _minute_ (Lat. _minutus_, small); _second_ (Med.
Lat. _secunda minuta_, second minute, or a smaller subdivision); _week_
(underlying meaning probably _change_); _month_ (moon); _year_
(underlying meaning probably _spring_); _season_ (Lat. _satio_, sowing);
_period_ (Gr. _periodos_, a circle). The same thing is true of psychical
terms in general. _Intellect_ is from Lat. _inter-legere_, to choose
between; _perceive_ and _comprehend_ mean literally to seize, to grasp.
The process is more obvious in using _mental grasp_ and the slang _to
catch on_. _Ruminate_ refers to the cud-chewing of cows; _brood_, to
meditate, goes back to _sit_ on eggs; _cogitate_ means originally to mix
together; _ponder_, Lat. _pondere_, to weight; _deliberate_ (Lat.
_libra_, scales); _reflect_ (Lat. _reflectere_, to bend back);
_calculate_ (Lat. _calculus_, pebble, from _calx_, lime); _investigate_
(Lat. _vestigium_, foot-print) illustrate this further.
Moral conceptions illustrate the same process. _Right_ and _wrong_ meant
in their origins straight and crooked (compare _right_ angle, _right_
away, and the verb _wring_, to twist). The colloquial _straight_ and
_crooked_ hark back to the earlier idea, with new moral application. The
fundamental meaning of _good_ is suitable; that of _evil_, excessive.
_Moral_ and _ethical_ both go back to words meaning custom, or manners.
_True_, in its original meaning, is related to the oak tree. _Integrity_
means untouched (Lat. _in_, not, and _tangere_, to touch). _Holy_ comes
from O. E. _halig_, from _hal_, whole. _Wicked_ was M. E. _wikke_,
feeble, connected with _weak_. _Virtue_, from Lat. _vir_, man, meant
manly physical strength. _Character_ is from the similar Greek word
meaning a tool for stamping or marking.
As physical facts alter, words are put to queer uses. Thus a university
course ends with a _commencement_; a steamer _sails_; an airplane
_lands_ on the sea; a ship is _manned_ with women. We have weekly
_journals_ (literally, weekly dailies, from Lat. _diurnalis_, daily).
_Black_-berries are red when they are green. A _manuscript_ (literally,
hand-written) may be typewritten. Words come to the place where they
mean the same as their negatives: as _passive_ and _impassive_, _ravel_
and _unravel_, _valuable_ and _invaluable_.
Language, Emerson said, is fossil poetry. Words, says Santayana, are the
tombs of ideas. These mental pictures, traced back to their origins, may
be of astonishing vividness. _Seminary_ meant originally seed-plot;
_stimulate_ is literally to goad on—though even _goad_ has now lost its
physical vigor. _Sop_, used now of a drunkard, meant in O. E. bread,
then used for dipping into liquids. _Cloak_ meant originally bell (Late
Lat. _cloca_, bell, and huntsman’s cloak through similarity of shape).
_Daisy_ meant literally eye of day; _aster_, a star (Gr. _aster_, star;
whence _astronomy_). _Tansy_ comes from Gr. _athanasia_, deathlessness,
immortality, a thought once applied to the plant; _pansy_ derives from
Fr. _pensee_, thought or remembrance. _Geranium_ meant originally
crane’s bill, from the shape of the seed; _tulip_ goes back to the
Persian word seen more clearly in _turban_, shape again determining the
application to the flower. Sentimental associations in English appear
clearly in _lady-slipper_, _bleeding-heart_, _maiden-hair_,
_heartsease_. Some of these derivations are humorous in intent; as an
artist’s _easel_ (Ger. _Esel_, a donkey, because the easel bears
burdens); _cab_ from _cabriolet_, a little she-goat.
_Figures of Nearness._
Many words grow from other words connected, closely or loosely, with the
idea they represent. Thus, by a process of de-personization, we speak of
a hunter as a _nimrod_, a teacher as a _mentor_, a wise man as a
_Nestor_, a legislator as a _solon_, after definite individuals.
_Tongue_ acquires the wider meaning of language, as in “the English
tongue.” _Language_ itself is from Lat. _lingua_, tongue. _Copper_ and
_nickel_ stand for small coins of those metals; _bloodshed_ for
destruction of life; _reds_, anarchists; the _bench_, the judges; the
_pulpit_, the clergy; _cockcrow_, dawn. We say _the kettle boils_ when
we mean the water boils; we use _youth_ for young people, _salt_ and
_deep_ for ocean, and an author’s name for his works, as “I read
_Shakespeare_.”
At times the shift is more disguised. Thus _front_ is a long way from
Lat. _frons_, the forehead. _Book_ comes from O. E. _boc_, the
beech-tree, the name of the material out of which books were first made.
Similarly _code_ is from Lat. _codex_, earlier _caudex_, tree-trunk;
_Bible_ from Gr. _biblion_, diminutive of _biblos_, inner bark of the
papyrus; _library_ from Lat. _liber_, book, originally bark of the tree.
In a different way _volume_ comes from Lat. _volumen_, roll, the form in
which Roman records were kept. In the case of _deer_, the class name O.
E. _deor_, wild beast, has come to apply to a special kind of beasts.
The same is true of hound, originally the word for all dogs. In the case
of _rabbit_, _bird_, and _pig_ the word originally meaning the young of
a species stands today for the whole species. This is being repeated
today in the word _chicken_. There is no limit to the eccentricity of
word creation.
CHAPTER III
THE BEHAVIOR OF WORDS
_The Words for Colors._
Any subdivision of the vocabulary could with profit be set aside for
particular study. Let us concentrate on the names for the colors, and
learn from them what they have to teach of the development of man and
his speech. The chief Sanskrit name for the abstract idea _color_ is
_varna_, derived from _var_, to cover. Color, therefore, was conceived
originally as the result of the act of covering or smearing or painting.
Our word, from the Lat. _color_, is connected with _oc-cultare_, to
hide; also with Gr. _chroma_, color, from Gr. _chros_, skin. Another
Sanskrit root for painting is _ang_, from which comes Lat. _unguere_, to
besmear, to anoint, and Sanskrit _ak-tu_, ointment, dark tinge, night,
and likewise light tinge or ray of light, from which Gr. _aktis_. Here
we have the first indication that the original conception of colors did
not distinguish clearly between them.
As Bucke’s “Cosmic Consciousness” indicates, the primitive Aryans,
perhaps 15,000 years ago, perceived or were conscious of only one color.
Primitive man of this time saw no difference of tint between blue sky,
green leaves, brown or gray earth, and the golden or purple clouds of
sunrise and sunset. Pictet finds no color word whatever in primitive
Indo-European speech; Max Muller finds no Sanskrit root with reference
to any definite color. At a later period, but before the oldest literary
compositions that have come down to us, the color sense developed into
an appreciation of two colors, black and red. The most ancient games,
such as chess and checkers, have black and red pieces. About the time
that the Rig Veda was composed, yellow was perceived as a separate third
color. Later came white, and then green. But throughout the Rig Veda,
the Zend Avesta, and the Bible the color of the sky is not once
mentioned, and was not recognized. The 10,000 lines of the Rig-Veda are
largely concerned with a description of the sky; the Bible mentions the
sky and heaven more than 430 times; neither mentions the color of the
sky. The 48 long books of the Odyssey and Iliad make no reference to it,
despite the crystal clarity of blue Mediterranean skies. 4,000, perhaps
3,000 years ago, blue was unrecognized; the subsequent names for blue
were all merged in the names for black. Xenophanes knew of only three
colors of the rainbow—purple, red, and yellow; Aristotle spoke of the
tri-colored rainbow; Democritus knew only four colors, black, red,
white, and yellow.
Let us trace down the words for color, and find how these abstract
conceptions were first phrased. Starting with the word _black_, we trace
it through M. E. _bleke_, A. S. _blaec_ (confused with a related word
meaning shining, white, etc., whence _bleak_), O. H. G. _blah_, _black_;
Icel. _blakkr_, dark, dusky; Sw. _black_, grayish; Dan. _blak_, dark;
and so on back to a verb appearing in Dan. _blaken_, burn, scorch; M. L.
G. _blaken_, burn with much smoke; L. G. _verblekken_, scorch, as the
sun scorches grain. This in turn is akin to Lat. _flagrare_, Gr.
_phlegein_, to burn; _flagrant_, _flame_, _phlegm_, _anti-phlogiston_
are from this root. From the _bleak_ form of the ancestry, going back to
Sanskrit _bhraj_, as did the _black_ meaning, akin to Gr. _phlegein_,
burn, Lat. _fulgere_, shine, we get the Eng. _blank_, _blink_, _blanch_,
_bleach_, _bright_. The Lat. _niger_, black, whence _negro_, etc., is
remotely kin to the Sanskrit _nic_, night. Thus the original meaning of
the root of _black_ is primarily to burn, to scorch—a physical fact.
_Red_, the second color to be distinguished, goes back through Teutonic
equivalents to A. S. _reodan_, make red, kill; akin to Lat. _ruber_ (for
_ruthr-_), Gr. _eruthros_, red; Lat. _rufus_, red; _rubidus_, dark red
(whence _ruby_), _russus_ and _rutilus_, reddish. The Ir. Gael, has
_ruadh_, Welsh _rhudd_, red; Bulg., Bohem., Russ., and other languages
use similar terms. Sanskrit has _rudhira_, red, blood. Thus blood was
the original meaning. In M. Eng., it was pronounced like reed; thus the
proper names Read, Reade, Reed, Reid, as well as Redd, are forms of it;
although at times these names came from other stems. The synonym
_scarlet_ has already been traced through Turkish and Persian sources to
Lat. _sigillatus_, from _signum_, a mark. _Vermilion_, _vermeil_, come
from Lat. _vermiculus_, a little worm, used for the cochineal-insect
which gave _crimson_ and _carmine_. These two words in turn both come
from _kermes_, the cochineal-insect, Sanskrit _krimija_, produced by an
insect, from _krimi_, worm. Our _worm_ is from the same source.
_Carnation_ is from the Lat. root meaning flesh, more originally a part,
something divided (as food). _Gules_ is akin to _gullet_; _lake_ from
Sanskrit _laksha_, the lac-insect. _Lobster-red_ is from the Lat.
_locusta_, shell-insect. _Maroon_ meant a chestnut—chestnut-colored;
_pink_, M. E. _pinken_, to prick, was a nasalized form of _pick_; the
color use came from the flower, named for its jagged edges. _Peach_ we
have traced back to “Persian apple”; _rose_ comes from an ancient root
meaning the flower, whence the color name. _Flush_ came from _flash_,
akin to Scandinavian words meaning blaze or passion; _florid_ meant
flowery; _blush_, another Scandinavian word meaning blaze, torch, etc.
Thus _red_ and its synonyms have the physical origins of (1) blood, (2)
a mark, (3) a little worm, (4) flesh or a part, (5) gullet or throat,
(6) an insect, (7) a shell insect, (8) the chestnut, (9) to prick, (10)
Persian apple, (11) the rose, (12) blaze, (13) flowery, (14) torch. From
the stem (3) alone we get vermilion, vermeil, crimson, carmine, worm,
vermin, and many others. When man wanted a name for the abstract color
akin to blood, the cochineal insect, etc., he used the words already
applied to these things.
_Yellow_, the third color, from M. E. _yelow_, _yelwe_, _zelwe_,
_yolwe_, _zelu_, etc., A. S. _geolu_, goes back to Lat. _helvus_, light
yellow; akin to Gr. _chloa_, verdure, _chloros_, yellowish-green;
Lithuanian _zalias_, green; Sanskrit _hari_, yellow. It traces back thus
to the light green of verdure. _Gold_ received its name from the same
stem. _Ochre_ meant originally pale; _aureate_, golden, came from the
Sanskrit _ushas_, dawn from _ush_, burn. Other words from this Sanskrit
root are _Auster_, the South wind; _helios_, the sun; _East_. It thus
meant “the burning thing.” _Saffron_, a product of dried _crocus_, was
named for its color. _Fallow_ meant pallid; _flavous_ is part of the
_flame_, _flagrant_ stem meaning burning, as is _fulvid_. _Lurid_ comes
from the same stem as yellow; _topaz_ was named for its brightness, from
Sanskrit _tapas_, heat. Thus the words meaning yellow split off from the
light green of growing things, or from the stems meaning to burn.
_White_, the fourth color, M. E. _hwit_, D. _wit_, Icel. _hvitr_, traces
back to Sanskrit _cveta_, white, from _cvit_, be white, or shine. From
the same stem comes _wheat_, _whittle_, etc. The _bleak_ stem we have
already traced, in its kinship through Gr. _phlegein_ to the word
meaning black. _Blanch_, to make white, comes from the same stem, as
does _bleach_; _argent_ meant originally silvery; _blond_, originally
yellow, has a lost origin.
_Green_, the fifth color, is comparatively simple in origin. To give its
full kinships, we have M. E. _grene_, A. S. _grene_, O. North, _groene_,
_groeni_, O. S. _groni_, O. Fries., _grene_, Dan. _groen_, M. L. G.
_grone_, L. G. _gron_, O. H. G. _gruoni_, M. H. G. _gruene_, Ger.
_grun_, Icel. _graenn_, Sw. Dan. _gron_; from the A. S. _growan_, to
grow, with the formative _-ni_. To the same root belong _grow_, _grass_,
_perhaps_, _gorse_.
_Blue_ goes back through the Teutonic speeches to M. Lat. _blavus_,
_blavius_, Dan. _blaa_, blue, livid; perhaps from Lat. _flavvus_,
yellow—color names being inevitably variable in their early application.
_Indigo_ gets its name by a simple transference from the East Indian
plant, and meant literally _Indian_.
Of the other colors, _brown_ goes back to Gr. _phruros_, brown, from
_phruros_, a toad; compare Lat. _rubeta_, a toad, _ruber_, reddish. It
is Sanskrit _bhru_, reddish-brown, plus the formative _-ni_. _Gray_ is a
Teutonic word meaning gray; its origin is obscure, and is not connected
with gray (with age) from _greis_, an old man, whence _grizzle_, nor
from the Gr. _graios_, old. _Orange_, formed to resemble Lat. _aurum_.
gold, had originally an initial _n-_, and came from Persian _naranj_, an
orange; compare Pers. _nar_, a pomegranate. Purple is from Lat.
_purpura_, the purple fish; Gr. _porphura_, same; apparently originally
from Gr. _phurein_, to mix or mingle. _Violet_ is named from the flower,
coming as a diminutive from the Latin; _puce_, from the Fr. word meaning
a flea; _plum_ (as also _prune_) from the Greek word meaning a plum;
_lilac_, properly the indigo plant originally, came with alternation of
initial consonant, from the Sanskrit _nila_, dark blue, indigo.
_Lavender_ was that used in washing; compare _lave_, _lavatory_.
_Amethyst_, Gr. _amethustos_, from a combination meaning a remedy for
drunkenness. Our _mead_, strong drink, comes from the same Gr. stem
_methu_, strong drink.
This, then, is a brief survey of the way our names for colors came into
the language. Comparative philology is able to ascertain with some
accuracy the order and the comparative periods at which colors were
first distinguished by man; and the results of this study are
paralleled, as Bucke points out, in a physical study of the nature of
color waves, and by a psychological study of color, color-blindness, and
the rare occurrence of color in dreams, when measured against a similar
study of human ability to recognize and differentiate other sensory
impressions. This has, too, a practical value. It is an interesting fact
that an untinted photograph to most people resembles the original more
than a tinted one. When we look at an uncolored picture, or an uncolored
moving picture, we are looking through the eyes of our ancestors of some
fifteen thousand years ago; the process is accordingly restful. If
certain colors are added, say the red for fire scenes in the movies,
this too is restful; for red was the first color split off from the
uniform gray-blackness of the original. In most dreams we are entirely
unaware of color, and yet find the dream-world entirely natural. The
practical lesson may be applied, among other things, to the proposition
for colored movies. It is quite possible that these will never be as
restful or satisfying as the uncolored ones.
_Generalization and Specialization._
Language grows in an unbelievably haphazard manner. First, of course,
came specific names; much later from these were chosen terms to describe
collective and then abstract things. Many languages today show a queer
absence of collective and abstract terms, such as we regard as
indispensable. The aboriginal Tasmanians, as Jespersen points out, had
no terms whatever for abstract things. They had names for each species
of gum-tree, wattle-tree, etc., but no class name for tree. They had no
names for general conceptions, such as hard, soft, warm, cold, long,
short, etc. The Society Islanders, in like manner, can talk of a dog’s
tail, sheep’s tail, etc., but have no general name for tail.
To the contrary, modern cultured languages pass through a period where
they glory in a great number of general terms of slightly different
meaning, many of which later on die a natural death. Thus the English
language speaks of a _flock_ of birds or sheep, a _drove_ of cattle or
swine, a _herd_ of cattle, a _bevy_ of quail, a _covey_ of partridges, a
_swarm_ of bees, a school of fish, and (in slang) a _bunch_ of men. A
similar lack of proper generalization appears in cow-_byre_,
horse-_stable_, dog-_kennel_, pig-_sty_, dove-_cote_, falcon-_mews_,
rabbit-_hutch_. The wealth of terms such as _horse_, _mare_, _filly_,
_stallion_, _foal_, _colt_; _cow_, _calf_, _heifer_, _bull_, _steer_,
_ox_; _calf_, _colt_, _lamb_, _puppy_, _fawn_, _kid_, _cub_, _shoat_,
_farrow_, _cygnet_, _duckling_, _parr_, _smolt_, for offspring, and
_cow_, _mare_, _ewe_, _doe_, _bitch_, _heifer_, _sow_, _hen_, _goose_,
_duck_, for females points to the time when animals, for breeding and
hunting, had much greater importance in man’s eyes than today. We have
_rooster_, _cock_, _cockerel_, _chantecleer_, _hen_, _pullet_,
_chicken_, _chick_, but no class name for the family; we have no class
name for the group led by Mr. Bull and Mrs. Cow. Sea-life has given rise
to a large number of unrelated words descriptive of boats, such as
_ship_, _boat_, _brig_, _sloop_, _schooner_, _wherry_, _shallop_,
_dinghy_, _punt_.
_Scene_ was originally a Greek theatrical term meaning tent; it grew
into booth (on a stage), stage, and at last into the more universal
meaning today. _Person_ was originally from Lat. _persona_, an actor in
a play, named from his mask with large mouth for the sound to pass
through, from _per-sonare_, to sound through. The impersonal _thing_
traces back to a Teutonic stem meaning assembly or council. Many of our
simplest word-elements have been generalized a long way from their
original meaning. The earliest prepositions cannot be traced with
certainty; but, among later ones, _around_ gets its second element
through Fr. from Lat. _rotundus_, derived from _rota_, wheel, whence
_rotate_; while among goes back to O. E. _ongemang_, in the crowd; the
second element being derived from the verb _gemengan_, to mingle.
The most obvious way to specialize the meaning of a word is to add a
qualifying word. For example, by the addition of _Indian_ to the word
_corn_, which meant grain in general, the name _Indian corn_ stood for
the American grain whose native name was _maize_. Similarly, _engine_,
mechanical device, was used to form _steam engine_ for a specific
device. During the last century the associated words became unnecessary;
so that _corn_ and _engine_, in America today, mean maize and the
steam-engine. Similarly _pipe_ has come to mean tobacco pipe; _poise_,
mental poise; _conceit_, self conceit; _execute_, execute a capital
sentence; _corpse_, dead corpse.
The auxiliary verbs in English are colorless survivals of once specific
action-verbs. The conjugation of _to be_ includes three distinct stems:
the _am_, _is_, _are_ element probably with an original meaning to
breathe; the _was_ and _were_ originally meaning to dwell; the _be_,
_being_, _been_ originally meaning to grow. _Do_ meant originally to put
or place; compare _don_, to put on (garments), and its opposite _doff_,
to take off. _Shall_ goes back to the earlier meaning of owe; _will_, to
wish or intend.
_Euphemism and Hyperbole._
It was once a common belief that there was a definite connection between
a thing and its name. A savage will not give his name to a stranger,
lest he thereby place himself in the stranger’s power. The name of a god
must not be mentioned, or his power will pass to the hearer; thus we do
not have the original name of the Hebrew deity derived from the Kenites
who is now the Christian god, but only a late representation of it in
the sacred tetragrammaton, or four-letter-word, _J-H-V-H_, usually
misread _Jehovah_, but more closely rendered as _Jahweh_, pronounced
Yahweh (compare pronunciation of last syllable of hallelu-_jah_). _Open
sesame_ was the Arabic phrase that opened the cave to Ali Baba. The word
_charm_, Lat. _carmen_, a song, indicated the belief in the magic
properties of words when sung; _enchantment_ (Lat. _cantus_, song)
points to the same thing.
In illustration, the dreaded bear has no name in the Balto-Slavic or
Teutonic tongue. Direct naming of the evil animal was avoided by phrases
like _the eater of honey_, _the noise maker_, _the brown_, or _the
licker_. Similarly the Lapps, Finns, and Esthonians avoided direct
reference through such substitute names as _the glory of the forest_,
_the old one_, _the hairy one_, _proud honey foot_, _big foot_. The
Irish even today never refer to the fairies, or _shee_ (compare
_banshee_); they are _the gentry_, _the good people_, _the little
people_. The devil is the _Old Gentleman_, _the Old Boy_, etc. Deities
today are preferably referred to as _the Almighty_, _the Creator_, _the
Lord_, _the Savior_, _the Redeemer_, _Our Lady_, _Madonna_, etc. The
Greeks timidly spoke of the Furies as the _Eumenides_, the gracious
goddesses. Rulers are still addressed indirectly as _your Majesty_,
_your excellency_, _your highness_. A servant is addressed by his first
name—he is already in the power of the master; but the ancient savage
taboo operates to prevent a servant’s calling his master by the first
name. Many European countries similarly distinguish even the pronouns
used in addressing servants.
Kin to this primitive superstition is the squeamishness about naming
certain parts of the body. _Leg_ is slowly replacing limb, as
Victorianism weakens; but _abdomen_, _viscera_, _expectorate_,
_perspiration_, _illness_, still replace the stouter English
equivalents. Thus _fresh_ and _soiled_ have taken the place of clean and
dirty in the language of the laundry. Stevenson’s reference to a
_pediculous malady_ successfully hides lousy disease; _couch beetle_
recently gentilified the bedbug. The derogatory _infidel_ and _atheist_
are softened to freethinker. Another example of euphemism, or “speaking
well” of a thing, is the prevailing taste for the grandiloquent. Thus
the English _public-house_ was rechristened _saloon_ in America, through
the word’s aristocratic associations; compare a ship’s _saloon_, and
_salon_. The barber uses _tonsorial art_ and _hair-dressing parlor_;
_tonsorial emporium_ is one step further on.
Hyperbole, or exaggerated speech, is responsible for many of our
linguistic eccentricities. The young lady from Nevada who said in an
interview that within the week she had “simply died from the heat,” was
“tickled to death by the movie comedians,” was “driven crazy by
telephone pests,” and was “frozen just stiff” while auto riding, is
merely typical of a general human trait. Thus we have phrases like
_volcanic applause_, a _roar of laughter_, and expanded words like
_daredevil_, _skinflint_, _numskull_, _lickspittle_, _bleacher_,
_skyscraper_. The original exaggeration in _bleacher_ is overlooked by
most minds; in _astonish_ and _stun_, literally thunder-stricken, it has
gone entirely.
Words of dignity fade in meaning, through excessive use. _Dame_ and
_madame_, from Lat. _domina_, mistress of slaves; _Mister_ and _Miss_
and _Mrs._, from Lat. _magister_, master; _Sir_, _sire_, from Lat.
_senior_, elder, were all once associated with high honor. _Gentleman_
meant a man of good family (Lat. _gens_, race.) The native English title
of honor, _lady_, has degenerated into uses like _lady friend_, _ladies
and gents_, _chorus lady_, _wash lady_. There was the colored woman who
inquired, “Who is the colored lady working for the woman across the
street?” _Yes_ and _no_ have lost much of their exaggerated force: _yes_
from A. S. _gea swa_, yes indeed; _not_ from _ne-a-wiht_, literally not
ever a bit.
Running counter to exaggeration is the spirit of understatement. Thus
the ocean is referred to as _the pond_, _the big drink_, _the puddle_.
_Money_ becomes _dough_ or _jack_ or _brass_. _Skirt_ and _frail_ and
_jane_ show similar dispraise of the skirted sex.
_Degeneration and Elevation._
The constant usage of words cheapens their meaning, as a rule. _Vulgar_,
once meaning belonging to the crowd (Lat. _vulgus_, crowd) means today
low, debased. The word-fixing aristocratic classes have as a rule
cheapened all words referring to the uneducated masses. _Heathen_,
_pagan_, once meant merely dwellers on the heath and on the field (Gr.
_pagos_, field). _Common_ and _ordinary_, taken to replace vulgar, are
started on the same downward trail. _Peasant_, _boor_, _rustic_, once
meaning merely countryman, suggest rudeness (compare _Boer_ from same
stem as _boor_). _Villain_, perhaps through association with the
unrelated _vile_, has left its meaning of countryman, villa-inhabitant,
far behind. By a contrary understatement, a cottage or “little place in
the country,” may possess 140 rooms, with two baths to each. _Wench_ was
originally a reputable name for a girl or child; _maid_ in poetry still
has nobility, in ordinary speech meaning a servant. _Knave_ (O. E.
_cnafa_, boy) has sunk lower. _Hick_, _hayseed_, _rube_, point further
to the lack of dignity of farm labor in city eyes.
_Naughty_, terribly wicked in Shakespeare’s time, “a thing of naught,”
means merely slightly bad. _Homely_, once almost a word of praise, means
downright ugly now; _plain_ is following the same course. _Mean_ has
dropped from its original meaning of middle (Lat. _medianus_) to its
present meaning. _Soon_, _anon_, _presently_, _by and by_, successively
meant immediately; _immediately_, _instantly_, and _right away_ will
probably take the same course—mute evidences of man’s innate inertia and
procrastinativeness. _Sanctimonious_, once meaning holy, has suffered
the disrepute in which the pharasaical are held. _Charity_, once meaning
love, suggests today a patronizing attitude. _Prude_, kin to _proud_ and
_prowess_, once meant high human excellence; it has ironically altered
itself wholly. _Minion_, once favorite, is much less today;
_scurrilous_, Lat. _scurra_, fine gentleman, grew after the Latin word
had been altered to mean jester, buffoon. _Dapper_, once brave or
sprightly (Germ. _tapfer_, brave) is today an adjective of contempt. The
weakness of old age has depressed the meaning of _senile_ and
_senility_; _senator_, from the same stem, has not yet been lorimered
and otherwise lowered wholly. History itself is responsible for the
contrasting fates of _frank_ and _slave_ (from the races _Frank_ and
_Slav_). _Sullen_ is a variant of _solemn_. It was once proper to speak
of the _enormity_ of the Mammoth Cave; today only _enormousness_ could
be so used, as _enormity_ means very wicked. _Very_, from Lat.
_veritas_, truth, is weakening daily. _Asylum_, from Gr. _asulos_,
inviolable, through association with orphan and insane, means a place of
confinement rather than a refuge.
At the same time earlier words, through association with the more
aristocratic things of life, have risen in connotation. _Court_ goes
back to Lat. _cohors_, inclosure or poultry-yard; _knight_, once O. E.
_cniht_, boy, has gone the other road from _knave_. _Marshal_ was once
horse-servant (O. E. _mearh_, horse, _scealc_, servant). _Steward_ was
originally sty-ward (O. E. _stigweard_), or guardian of a sty, before
_sty_ had degenerated to its present meaning. _Civil_, _civilize_, (Lat.
_civis_, citizen) and _urbane_ (Lat. _urbs_, city) have gained dignity;
although _urban_ is rather colorless. _Quaker_, _Methodist_, _Yankee_,
_Whig_, _Tory_, applied first in ridicule, today are accepted without
offense.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ROMANCE OF WORDS
_Words and Archeology._
The 18th century rediscovery of the close connection between Sanskrit
roots and European speech has opened up a mine of information about the
culture of our primitive ancestors. Our word _pecuniary_, for instance,
from Lat. _pecunia_, money, is derived from _pecus_, cattle, pointing to
the time when property consisted, not of _coins_ (Lat. _cuneus_, a
wedge, Gr. _konos_, a peg or cone, from which _cuneiform_, _cone_,
_coign_, _hone_) but of _cattle_ (from Lat. _caput_, head, whence
_capital_, _chattel_, _chief_, _chef_, Eng. _head_, etc.) Carrying the
word _pecus_ further back, its meaning changes from _cattle_ to _sheep_;
then to _wool_; then to a verb stem meaning _to pull_ or _pluck_. Thus
the whole idea of property may be traced in the wanderings of meaning of
this one word. Cognate words in the Indo-European languages for _hound_,
_ox_, _cow_, _ewe_, _goat_, _sow_, _swine_, _pork_, and for _ech_, an
early English word for horse (kin to Skt. _acva_, Gr. _hippos_, Lat.
_equus_, Irish _ech_, etc.) indicate an acquaintance with at least six
domestic animals before the separation of the European peoples.
Philologists have dug deeply in such cases. Thus the English _beech_ has
as cognates Ger. _Buch_, Lat. _fagus_, meaning beech; also Gr. _phegos_,
oak; Curdish _buz_, _elm_; Old Bulg. _buzu_, _elder_. The English _fir_
appears in Ger. _Fohre_, fir; Lat. _quercus_, oak, etc. In such cases,
as in the involved etymology of _tree_, the term before the separation,
undoubtedly starting as the name of a specific tree, may have been
broadened into the class-name for tree, and been applied in each country
to the chief tree at the time of the migration.
The Indo-European tongues have cognate words for _field_ and _mow_ and
_furrow_, indicating agriculture before they separated. It is quite
different with the names for metals. The word _metal_ itself first
appears in Herodotus, as _metallon_, a mine. _Hammer_, found in cognates
in many Indo-European languages, meant originally _stone_, and points
back to the Stone Age. The one metal known during the late Stone Age was
copper; we find Lat. _aes_, Gothic _aiz_, Skt. _ayas_, Avestan _ayah_,
all meaning copper. The name _copper_ comes from the island of Cyprus;
just as _bronze_ is connected with the city of Brindisi, in the Lat.
_aes Brundisinum_, Brindisi copper.
In the cases of the other metals, there are no such cognates. The Greek
word for gold, _chrusos_, is said to be of Hebrew origin; Lat. _aurum_
originated from a Latin word meaning yellow or shining. Another form is
seen in _gold_, found both in Teutonic and Slavic speeches. Its origin
is unknown; it may have been geographic. _Silver_ has no common
Indo-European name; it gets this name from the Pontic city _Salube_.
_Iron_ and _lead_ are in the same category; the Teutons received from
the Celts both metals and names. _Steel_, appearing in many Teutonic
dialects, is comparatively late. Of recent metals, _cobalt_ is from the
German _kobold_, a sprite; _nickel_, named by the Swedish mineralogist
Cronstedt in 1754, came from Ger. _Kupfernickel_; the element _nickel_
referring to another demon, _nickel_, pet form of _Niklaus_ (compare
_The Old Nick_; from _St. Nicholas_, whence _Santa Claus_, originally
from Gr. _Nicholas_, akin to _nica_, victory.) _Tungsten_, still more
recent, is named from Swed. _tung-sten_, heavy stone. _Platinum_ comes
from Span. _plata_, silver, from the metal’s appearance. _Aluminum_ or
_aluminium_ was discovered in 1812, and is named from _alum_ (Lat.
_alumen_, alum, origin unknown).
_House_ is from Teutonic origins, probably connected with _hut_,
_hoard_, _hide_; the Lat. _domus_, house, is the older root, akin to Gr.
_demein_, to build, Skt. _dama_, etc.; our _dome_, _domicile_,
_domestic_, come from it, as does _timber_. _Bolster_, _bed_, and other
words for the contents of the house, are found in the Indo-European
group of cognates; _wheel_, _wagon_, _axle_, _thill_, _yoke_, _lynch_
(pin), also so found, point to their antiquity in Indo-European culture.
Thus the study of words gives us a rude picture of our primitive
ancestors, long before they left the Asian plateaus for their bloody
scattering over the world.
_The Romance of Words._
One of the most amusing phases of word study is the false etymologies
around which much early history is gathered. Thus _Britain_, an old
Celtic word, was traced back to the fall of Troy by the invention or
connection with a _Brut_, or _Brutus_, a descendant of Aeneas, supposed
to have settled in England. A similar process connects _Corineus_, a
companion of Brutus, with the naming of _Cornwall_, properly
_Corn-Wales_, strangers in the land. _Lisbon_ was mistraced to Ulysses
by spelling in _Olisipo_. The _Scots_ go the nations one better by
tracing descent to _Scota_, daughter of Pharaoh. The Early Greeks
invented a mythical _Hellen_, whose sons _Aeolus_ and _Dorus_, and
grandsons _Achaeus_ and _Ion_, were the parents respectively of the
collective Hellenes or Greeks, and the tribes of Aeolians, Dorians,
Achaeans, and Ionians, all in an endeavor to prove general kinship.
Consider the recent attempts to derive _Yankee_. Among the explanations
offered are (1) an Indian attempt to pronounce _Anglois_, French for
_English_; (2) _Eankke_, coward, in an Indian dialect; (3) Scotch
_yankie_, a great falsehood; (4) _Yankoos_, a tribe of Indians
conquered; (5) _Jannekin_, a Dutch taunt at New Englanders; (6) a
corruption of _Yorkshire_; (7) Chinese _Yang jung_, East Indian _Yang
Gee_, you are a foreigner; (8) as _Yankee Doodle_, from Persian _Yanhi
Dunia_. We may confidently expect (9) from Egypt. Tut-Ankhamen,
colloquially Dude-Ankhy, whence Doodle-Yankee. The greatest philological
mishmash we have encountered is entitled “Prehistoric Times, or
Milestones in the Evolution of Man,” by four woman authors, proceeding:
It is because words related originally to sex, which is dual, that
we have the double letters in a word, as in woRRy, EEl, fOOl (both
kinds)! The two letters are, one for the one sex, one for the other.
BRIC-a-BRAC is the CRIBbing male and the CRABbed female. WIG-WAG is
the WICKed male, always so considered, and the WAGon-like female,
which carries the young.
After this, we are not surprised at the River _Picket-wire_ in Texas,
locally derived from its shape, though the French named it _Purgatoire_,
Purgatory. Many local legends account for the English inn names _Plum
and Feathers_ (from the _Plume of Feathers_, the Prince of Wales’
crest); the _Bull and Gate_ (from the _Boulogne Gate_, to commemorate
the taking of Boulogne by Henry VIII); and the _Goat and Compasses_
(from the fine old Puritan signboard, “_God encompasseth us_”).
_Place Names._
Place names, like coins in circulation, have in many cases lost their
original markings. Thus _York_, as named by the old Britons, was
Eburacon, perhaps from a man _Eburos_. The Teutonic Angles altered this
to _Evuroc_, which was further modified and took on the Anglian
termination _-wic_, arriving at the form _Eoforwic_, read as _Boar Town_
(_eofor_, boar, and _wic_, dwelling place). The Danes gave it a new
spelling and pronunciation, _Iorvik_, which was corrupted to the present
_York_. Thus the German city _Mainz_ is remote from the original Lat.
_Mogontiacum_; _Laon_ from Lat. Laudunum. More recently _Chateau Vert_,
Green Castle, near Oxford, appears in English as _Shotover_.
There is hardly a river in England that has not a Celtic name. The Celt.
_avon_, river, is used for a dozen streams. The Celt. _dun_, fortress,
appears as far apart as _Carrodunum_ on the Dneister and _Singidunum_,
old name for Belgrade, to _Dundalk_, _Dungannan_, etc., in Ireland. In
France it is hidden in _Autuc_ (_Augustodunum_), _Lyons_ (_Lugdunum_),
_Verdun_, (_Verodunum_); in Great Britain it appears in _Dumfries_,
_Dumbarton_, _Dundee_, _Dunstable_, etc. The Latin _castra_, camp, dots
England in _-caster_, _-chester_, and _-cester_ terminations; _strata_,
road, is fixed in _Stratford_, _Stratton_, _Streatham_, _Stretford_,
etc. Simpler derivations are _Oxford_, (_ox-ford_), _Swinford_
(_swine-ford_), etc. Anglo-Saxon place-names are often derived from
persons; as _Brighton_, from _Brihthelmestun_, farmstead of _Brihthelm_.
The termination _-ing_ enters into a tenth of the number of names of
English villages and hamlets. Thus _Washington_ is the town (_ton_) of
the family (_ing_) living on the _Wash_. The Norse occupation is shown
by _-by_, _-thwaite_, _beck_, and _dale_; _-thorp_ is usually
Scandinavian.
In America, the native Indian names range from the harshness of
_Connecticut_ and _Massachusetts_, and the grotesque in _Canojoharie_,
_Kalamazoo_, _Ypsilanti_, _Skaneateles_, to the liquid beauty of
_Miami_, _Appalachicola_, _Tuscarora_, _Tuscaloosa_. Dutch names,
_Hoboken_, _Brooklyn_, _Spuyten Duyvil_, _Catskills_, _Yonkers_, point
to Dutch occupation. The French gave _Vermont_, _Detroit_, _Joliet_,
_Terre Haute_, _St. Louis_, _Baton Rouge_, _Mobile_, _New Orleans_. The
Spanish contributed _Florida_, _San Antonio_, _El Paso_, _Albuquerque_,
_Santa Fe_, _Colorado_, _Los Angeles_, _San Francisco_, _Montana_, and
many others. Occasional German and Scandinavian place-names point to
their occupation.
Free use was made in America of the old names. There are more than 600
postoffices beginning with _New_. _London_ appears in 11 states;
_Paris_, 21; _Berlin_, 24; _Florence_, 34. There is 1 _Babylon_, 3
_Ninevehs_, 16 _Romes_, 19 _Spartas_, 22 _Athenses_, 29 _Troys_. There
are 18 _Alphas_, but only 11 _Omegas_. There are 12 _Bethlehems_, 22
_Bethels_; 13 _Paradises_, and 1 _Hell Creek, Colo._ There are 11
_Freedoms_, 26 _Independences_, 38 _Unions_; 28 _Enterprises_, and 1
_Money Creek_; 16 _Harmonies_, but 25 _Lonelies_; 7 _Sunshines_, 1
_Twilight_; 3 _Faiths_ and 18 _Hopes_. There are 2 _Nellies_, 11
_Coras_, _and_ 17 _Adas_. There is a _Beef Creek_, a _Greasyridge_, a
_What Cheer_, a _Yelk_, a _Yell_, a _Dead Broke_, a _Murderer’s Bar_.
The progress of culture is indicated in the Kansas village that changed
its name from _Wild Cat_ to _Keats_. There are 3 _Whynots_, 1 _Josh_;
infinite _Washingtons_, _Franklins_; 22 _Brooklyns_, 75 _Buffalos_ (in
various compounds). There is _Seven_, Tenn.; _Fourteen_, W. Va.;
_Seventeen_, O.; _Seventy-Six_, Ky. and Md.; _Ninety-Six_, S. C. So has
the American spirit spoken.
Among unique English perversions, in addition to _Shotover_, are
_Leighton Beau-desert_ to _Leighton Buzzard_, _Burgh Walter_ to
_Bridgewater_, and _Beau Chef_ to _Beachy_ (Head). _Chemin Couvert_
became, in Arkansas, _Smackover_. Even _Bunker_, in Bunker Hill, was
once _Bon coeur_. There is more approval for the transformation of the
amazing Indian _Quah-Tah-Wah-Am-Quah-Duavic_ to French _Petamkediac_,
and later English _Tom Kedgwick_. In similar fashion _Gramercy_ Square,
New York, was not originally French but Dutch for crooked lane, _De
Kromme Zee_.
_Personal Names._
Most Englishmen of the Anglo-Saxon period were content with a single
name. A frequent element is _Aelf-_, elf or fairy, as in _Aelfgar_,
_Aelfhelm_, _Aelfred_. _Aethel-_, meaning noble (Germ. _Edelman_,
nobleman) appears in _Aethelbald_, _Aethelred_. _Ead-_, association with
_eadig_, happy, appeared in _Eadgar_, _Eadgyth_, _Eadmund_, _Eadweard_,
_Eadwine_. Other elements are _bald_, bold; _ecg_, edge; _god_, good;
_wig_, battle; _sie_, victory; _wulf_, wolf, as prefixes: and, as
suffixes, _heard_, strong; _here_, army; _mund_, hand; _roed_, counsel;
_wine_, friend. Less pretentious are such names as _Brand_, sword;
_Cytel_, kettle; _Wulf_, _Hild_ (a), _Hengest_, _Horsa_, _Hudda_,
perhaps pet forms of longer names. These survive, often greatly
disguised, in such modern names as _Baldwin_ (Bealdwine), _Harold_
(Herewald), _Bardell_ (Beorhtwulf), _Elmer_ (Aelfmaer), _Herbert_
(Herebearht), _Herrick_ (Hereric), _Hubert_, _Hubbard_, _Hobart_,
_Hibbert_, _Hibbard_ (Hygeeorht), _Wyman_ (Wigmund), _Kemp_ (Cempa,
warrior), _Cob_ (Cobba), _Froude_ (Froda, prudent), _Tucker_ (Tuccao),
etc.
After the Norman Conquest, the names most widely used were _John_,
_William_, _Thomas_, _Richard_, _Robert_, in the order given. _John_
(Lat. _Johannes_), found in other languages Ital. _Giovanni_ (from which
_Zany_), Fr. _Jean_, Welsh _Evan_, Scotch _Ian_, Breton _Yves_, Russian
_Ivan_, Dan. and Dutch _Hans_, is responsible also for _Shawn_, _Jane_,
_Joan_, _Jones_, _Johnson_, _Jennings_, etc. _Thomas_, also Scriptural
in origin, owed its popularity to pilgrimages to the shrine of St.
Thomas a Becket. We have from it _Thoms_, _Thomson_, etc., and from the
ending, a French clipped form, _Macey_, _Massie_, _Machin_, _Masson_,
etc. The other three names are Teutonic. _William_, M. H. G.
_Willehelm_, helm of resolution, had in French two forms, _Guillaume_
and the one with the initial _W-_. From these comes the parallel forms
_Gautier_ and _Walter_, _Guy_ and _Wyatt_. _Williams_, _Wills_,
_Williamson_, _Wilson_, _Wilkins_, _Willett_, _Gilliam_, come from it.
_Robert_ was O. H. G. _Hruodbert_, fame-bright; _Richard_ was _Richart_,
powerful. From these came _Rick_, _Hick_, _Dick_, _Rob_, _Hob_, _Dob_,
_Bob_; also _Ricketts_, _Hicks_, _Hixon_, _Dix_, _Dixon_, _Rich_,
_Ritchie_, _Hitch_, _Higgs_, _Bigg_, _Robb_, _Ditch_, _Robbins_,
_Robson_, _Robinson_, _Hobbs_, _Hobson_, _Dobbs_, _Dodson_, etc.
Along with this went the relative infrequency of _Arthur_, _Charles_,
and _George_. Their popularity was later, from the royal houses of
Stuart and Hanover, and from Arthur, Duke of Wellington. Similarly
_Frederick’s_ vogue came from Frederick the Great.
In the period before the Conquest, individuals often earned an epithet,
as Edmund _Ironsides_, Aethelred _the Unready_, Edward _the Confessor_;
but these were not transmitted from father to son. The earliest form of
surname proper was the patronymic, the name of parent or ancestor. Thus
Alfred the Great was properly Alfred _Aethelwulfing_, or son of
Aethelwulf. Thus the Beowulf characters are the _Scyldings_ and
_Scylfings_, sons of _Scyld_ and _Scylf_ respectively; similarly the
Greeks Hippias and Hipparchus were _Pisistratidae_, sons of Pisistratus,
etc. With later Hebrews, Abou _ben-Adhem_ meant son of Adhem. In Slavic
languages the patronymic ends with _-vitch_; in Norman _fitz_ (Mod. Fr.
fils, son) served the same purpose; among Scotch and Irish _Mac_,
relative. In Welsh, _Map_, or later _Ap_ or _Ab_, was used: it appears
disguised in many names, as _Pugh_ (_ap-Hugh_), _Bowen_ (_ap-Owen_),
_Powell_ (_ap-Howell_), _Price_ (_ap-Rhys_), _Pritchard_ (_ap-Richard_),
_Prothero_ (_ap-Roderick_), _Blood_, (_ap-Lud_), as well as _Upjohn_,
_Updike_, etc. The Irish _O’_ serves practically the same function as
_Mac_. Scandinavians use _-son_; thus _Olson_ (_Olaf-son_), _Anderson_
(_Andrew-son_), _Pedersen_ (_Peter’s son_). In the South of England the
old genitive ending _-s_ accomplished a similar function; thus Tom’s
Mary would be distinguished from Herbert’s Mary. From this we get many
surnames ending in _-s_. especially among the Welsh, such as _Jones_,
_Williams_, _Hughes_, _Evans_, _Roberts_, _Edwards_.
A second source of surnames is from the locality where a man lived.
_Scott_ is an English name applied to Scotchmen; the reverse is true of
_English_. _Cornish_ and _Cornwallis_, for dwellers in _Cornwall_,
originated in neighboring Devonshire. Similar are _Brett_, _Britton_
(Brittany), _Picard_, _Power_ (Picardy), _Loring_ (Lorraine), _Bullen_
(Boulogne), _Bloss_ (Blois), _Loving_ (Louvain), _Sessions_ (Scissons).
Place-names more purely local, with or without the terminal _-s_, are
_Ford_, _Bridges_, _Field_, _Craig_ (crag), _Lake_, _Rivers_, _Brooke_,
_Cairnes_, _Glenn_, _Dunne_ and _Dun_ (hill), _Hill_, _Wood_, _Forrest_.
From the O. E. _burh_ (dative _byrig_), fortified place, came _Burrows_,
_Burroughs_, _Borrow_, _Brough_, _Burke_, _Bury_, _Berry_. _Peak_,
_Pike_, _Peck_, _Pick_, meant hill-top; _Law_, _Low_, _Lynn_, _Shaw_,
_Holt_, _Hurst_, _Barrows_ are similar. More definite are the
place-names in _Tuttle_ (_Toot-hill_), _Tyndall_ (_Tyne-dale_),
_Haywood_ (_Hay_, hedge, and _wood_), _Radcliffe_, _Wycliffe_,
_Dodd_-ridge, _Bradshaw_ (broadwood), _Crashaw_ (crow-wood), _Earnshaw_
(eagle-wood), _Renshaw_ (raven-wood), _Schofield_ (school field). From
the _cliff_ root came also _Clifford_, _Clifton_, _Cleaves_,
_Cleveland_. The old northern form _yett_ for gate appears in _Yeats_
and _Yates_. _Hyatt_ is _high-yett_. Dialect variants of _Hedge_ appear
in _Hay_, _Haig_, _Haigh_, _Haw_, _Hey_; plurals, _Hayes_, _Hawes_.
A third principal source of modern surnames is found in names of
occupations. _Smith_, _Butcher_, _Carpenter_, _Miller_, _Taylor_, are
fairly obvious. From crafts less in evidence come _Chaucer_ (shoemaker),
_Hunt_ (hunter), _Day_ (dairyman), _Webb_, _Weaver_ (weaver), _Frick_
(warrior), _Wright_ (worker). _Webster_, _Brewster_, _Baxter_ are
feminines of weaver, brewer, baker; others are _Millard_ (millward or
guardian), _Plummer_ (plumber), _Inman_ (landlord), _Ward_ (guard),
_Firminger_ (cheese-maker), _Barker_ (tanner), _Chapman_ (merchant),
_Clark_ (clerk or scholar). Among obsolete occupations are _Arrowsmith_,
_Fletcher_, and _Flower_ (all arrowmaker: compare O. E. _fla_, arrow);
_Boulter_ (bolt-maker), and _Bowyer_, Bower, _Boyer_ (bow-maker).
_Fuller_, _Tucker_, _Shearer_, _Sherman_, _Walker_, point to early
cloth-making. _Tyler_ (tile-man), _Chandler_ (candlemaker), _Hawker_
(itinerant salesman), _Parmenter_ (parchment-maker), _Pilcher_ (fur
cloak maker), _Quiller_ (maker of quilted ruffs), _Cutler_ (knife
maker), _Spooner_ (spoon maker), _Collier_ (coal worker, charcoal
burner), _Croker_, _Crocker_ (maker of crocks), _Cooper_, _Cowper_
(maker of casks), _Lorimer_ (bridle maker), _Sellars_ (saddle maker),
_Parker_ (park guardian), _Hayward_ (literally hedge ward, guardian of
tilled fields), _Constable_ (stable-man), _Stuart_, _Stewart_ (steward)
are a few more. _Graves_ blends two forms: O. E. _gerefa_, reeve, and
_Greaves_ for Grove. The same is true of _Howard_, both from _Hayward_
and earlier _Hereward_.
A fourth source of surnames is nicknames. Henry _Plantagenet_, Richard
the _Lion-Hearted_, Edward _Longshanks_, are examples. _Wolf_, _Lovell_,
_Lovett_, are all from wolf; _Drinkwater_, _Doolittle_, _Larned_ (from
_learned_), _Longfellow_, _Fairfax_ (fair hair), _Purdy_ and _Pardee_
(from a French oath), _Shakespeare_, _Wagstaff_, _Hurlbutt_, _Benbow_
(from _bend-bow_), _Lovejoy_, these require no comment. There were also
_Stout_ (meaning brave), _Little_, _Seeley_ (happy), _Moody_
(_courageous_), _Bragg_ (brave). From the French came _Burnett_
(diminutive of brown), _Blunt_ and _Blount_ (blond), _Power_ (poor),
_Curtis_ (courteous). The Celtic gave _Gough_ and _Roe_, both red;
_Bain_, _Wynne_, and _Gwynne_, white; _Glass_ and _Lloyd_ and _Floyd_,
gray; _Sayce_, Saxon; _Vaughan_, little; _Cameron_, Scotch for crooked
nose; _Campbell_, wry mouth; _Kennedy_, Irish for ugly head.
There was no uniformity in the spelling of personal names at first. In
addition to the varied spellings of Shakespeare, Dr. _Crown_, 17th
century, spelt his name variously _Cron_, _Croon_, _Crown_, _Crone_,
_Croone_, _Croune_. _Pierce_, _Peirce_, _Pearce_, _Pearse_, _Pears_, all
derive from _Piers_, Fr. for apostle Peter. _Lea_, _Lee_, _Ley_,
_Leigh_, _Legh_, _Legge_, _Lay_, _Lye_, all come from O. E. for meadow.
_Elspeth_, _Elsie_, _Eliza_, _Liza_, _Lisa_, _Lizzie_, _Beth_, _Bet_,
_Bettie_, _Betsy_, derive from _Elizabeth_. Suffixes like the
diminutives _-kin_, _-in_, _-ie_, _-ett_, give to _Pierce_, _Perkins_,
_Pierson_, etc. _Matthew_ gave rise to _Matthews_, _Mayhew_, _Mayo_,
_May_, _Mee_, _Mayes_, _Mekins_, _Meeson_, and at times _Mason_. The
list is interminable.
Corrupt spelling, following slurred pronunciation, gave _Farrar_ from
_Farquhar_, _Mean_ from _Meaghan_, _Calhoun_ from _Colquhoun_, _Beecham_
from _Beauchamp_. The Saints’ names suffered a speech-change:
_Bartholomew_ to _Tolley_; _Edmund_ to _Munn_; _St. Aubyn_, _Tobin_;
_St. Osith_, _Toosey_; _St. Maur_, _Seymour_; _St. Clair_, _Sinclair_;
_St. Paul_, _Semple_. The reverse tendency is found in _Alys_, _Edythe_,
_Nellie_, etc.
Dutch names in the United States suffered such alterations as _Reiger_
to _Riker_, _Haerlen_ to _Harlan_. French changed _Caille_ to _Kyle_,
_Soule_ to _Sewell_, _Bon Pas_ to _Bumpus_, _de l’ hotel_ to
_Doolittle_. German shifts were _Blum_ to _Bloom_, _Reuss_ to _Royce_,
_Oehm_ to _Ames_, _Furth_ to _Ford_. At times they were translated:
_Pfund_ to _Pound_; _Konig_, _King_; _Schwartz_, _Black_; _Weber_,
_Weaver_. Jewish names have also seen such changes as _Rosenberg_ to
_Rosen_ to _Rose_ to _Ross_; _Hilkovitch_ to _Hilquit_ to _Hill_;
_Schneider_ to _Taylor_; _Schlachtfeld_ to _Warfield_; _Schonberg_ to
_Belmont_. In the New York City directory, _Smith_, _Brown_, _Miller_,
_Murphy_, _Meyer_, are first five in order of popularity. _Cohen_ and
_Levy_ come 8th and 9th; _Jones_ 10th, _Taylor_ 23rd.
_The American Language._
There are those who think that typical American speech is found in such
a sentence as, _Them guys ain’t got no pep_. Here the first is
ungrammatical; the second, slang; the third, bad grammar again; the
fourth, colloquial; the fifth, illogical; the sixth, slang once more.
And yet the meaning is plain and unambiguous, even though no word passes
accepted English standards. Luckily, American speech means more than
this. America has added to the language, in making it its own, such
words as _blaze_ (a trail), _blizzard_, _back number_, _back-bone_,
_barber shop_, _barroom_, _beeline_, _belittle_, _bleachers_,
_blinders_, _bloomers_, _blue laws_, _bluff_, _bob-sled_, _bogus_,
_boom_, _boost_, _brainy_, _brief_ (lawyers), _bully_ (adj.), _campus_,
_cave in_, _cocktail_, _commuter_, _contraband_, _crib_, _cow-catcher_,
_crawfish_, _derail_, _diggings_, _dipper_, _doughnut_, _dovetail_,
_fizzle out_, _grit_ (courage), _make good_, _joyride_, _maverick_,
_shyster_, _scalawag_, _snap_, _splurge_, _spree_, _spry_, _wilt_,
_whole-souled_, _yegg_, among thousands of others. Her new political
terms are innumerable; in every walk of life she creates her own speech.
These are live words, rich in soil-tang and the glow of health. It would
be an evil hour if we relied on England for our speech. But the study of
our words, embalmed in English and other tongues, including the
earliest, is a helpful and informative way of broadening our own
understanding, and adding to the speech of our maturing soul.
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOLOGY ***
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